In modern Russia, corruption has become a social norm in the relationships between citizens and government officials, and state and municipal agencies. All manifestations of corruption can be found in the Russian education system. They are determined largely by the development and implementation of the Unified State Examination (“EGE” in Russian) in secondary schools, difficulties in entering universities and hardships of teaching. Article 43 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees that a basic secondary education will be made available and free to each citizen—as well as the possibility of attending, free of charge, on a competitive basis, a state or municipal higher education institution. Overcoming corruption in the Russian education system is complicated by the fact that corruption has become the only way for many Russian families to obtain a nominally free public education. Administrations and owners of educational institutions, as well as state and municipal officials engaged in the regulation of their activity, are not interested in actively combatting bribery. The reason for this is that they receive significant benefits from such instances of graft. One of the consequences of corruption in the Russian education system is that teenagers and students learn to solve their problems through corrupt means, a habit that carries over to other areas of their lives.

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