"Tochka Rosta" ("Growth Point") is a federal network of education centers with digital, natural science, technical, and humanities profiles, created in rural schools and general education institutions of small towns with a population of up to 60,000. The network was organized as part of the national project "Modern School" and aims to provide equal learning opportunities for children regardless of where they live.[1]

Development of the network in Nizhny Novgorod Region

By 2021, Tochka Rosta centers were operating in many municipalities of Nizhny Novgorod Region. On September 1, 2021, 121 new centers opened at once in 46 municipalities, including the Arzamassky, Balakhninsky, Vetluzhsky, Diveevsky, Kstovsky, Urensky, and Sharangsky Districts, among others. Together with the facilities opened earlier that year, the total number of centers in the region exceeded 200.[1]

Whereas the first centers were created under the digital and humanities profiles, from 2021 the focus changed: the new Tochka Rosta centers took on a natural science and technology orientation. Equipment for the hands-on study of physics, chemistry, and biology was purchased for all participating schools. At that point, more than 12,000 children were already attending the centers, and they were open not only to pupils of the host school but also to those of other institutions in the same municipality.[1]

More than 690 million rubles from the federal and regional budgets were allocated to the project in Nizhny Novgorod Region through 2023. According to the plan of the Region's Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth Policy, another 121 centers were to be opened in 2022, and 122 in 2023.[1]

Olga Petrova, the Minister of Education of Nizhny Novgorod Region, described Tochka Rosta as "several steps forward on the path to creating conditions for accessible, quality education" for children living in the Region's districts. Andrey Naumov, director of the autonomous non-profit organization "Center for New Forms of Education Development," called them a "driver of growth in the appeal of rural areas."[1]

Sources

  1. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — More than 120 "Tochka Rosta" centers will open in schools of Nizhny Novgorod Region on September 1, Nizhny Novgorod News (archive)
  2. ngounb.ru — III Interregional Round Table "The Model Library as a Growth Point for the Local Community" (archive)