Half of All Schools in Daghestan Need Major Repairs and an Even Greater Share Still Don’t Have Indoor Plumbing, Makhachkala Admits

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 6 – According to the Daghestani government, more than 710 schools in the republic – fifty percent of the total number of education institutions there -- need major repairs, an even larger share don’t have indoor plumbing, and ten percent – 143 – have been declared  unfit for use with continuing classes there putting their students at risk.

            Moreover, officials say, the situation is getting worse. At the start of 2022, every third school in the republic needed repairs but now every second one does. But even though the republic spends a quarter of its educational budget on repairs, there is little chance that it will be able to improve the situation anytime soon (kavkazr.com/a/polovina-shkol-v-dagestane-nuzhdaetsya-v-kapitaljnom-remonte/32762583.html).

            A major reason is that the number of pupils has exploded in recent years. Over the last five, they have increased from 394,000 to 481,000. Officials hope that growth will slow or even  be reversed and that by 2030, the number of students will fall by 10,000 to 470,000, although even if that happens, the need for repairs will not decline.

            The situation is only slightly better in the North Caucasus republics of North Ossetia, Ingushetia, and Karachayevo-Cherkessia. In ethnic Russian regions, there are also problems with school buildings but they are less pressing because in almost all cases, the number of pupils is declining.