Russia's top court rules school was wrong to bar student from continuing after ninth grade
Russia's Supreme Court ruled that a school unlawfully refused to enroll a student in the 10th grade after he completed ninth grade. The ruling comes as authorities increasingly push ninth-graders toward vocational schools instead of regular high school.
Russia's Supreme Court, the country's highest court of general jurisdiction, has ruled that a school acted unlawfully when it refused to let a student continue his education after finishing ninth grade. The court explained that successfully completing a general education is not grounds for expulsion.
The complaint was brought by Valentina Berseneva, a resident of the Sverdlovsk region, after her son was denied a spot in the 10th grade because the school structures those classes around specialized tracks. According to the Russian business daily Kommersant, Berseneva had asked that her son instead be placed in a general-education class, but the school refused.
Berseneva took the matter to court, seeking to void the school director's order expelling her son upon completion of his studies. Three lower courts rejected her claim, but the Supreme Court's panel for administrative cases overturned those rulings and declared the expulsion order invalid.
Growing pressure toward vocational schools
The BBC's Russian Service reported in late July that Russian authorities have stepped up pressure on students to enroll in vocational schools rather than continue in regular school after ninth grade. Attending a vocational or technical school makes it harder to later gain admission to a university. It also causes young men to lose their deferment from compulsory military service, since that deferment is considered already used once they attend vocational school.
