23 thousand schoolchildren in Tatarstan became participants of the School Business Start project
In September 2024, Tatarstan schools will once again begin training under the republican program "School Business Start". In the new academic year, the project will cover more than 11 thousand children and will continue to lay the foundations for studying entrepreneurship in secondary school.
Let us recall that the large-scale republican program "School Business Start" has been implemented in Tatarstan for the third year. It is organized by the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan, with the support of the My Business Center of the Entrepreneurship Support Fund of the Republic of Tatarstan within the framework of the national project "Small and Medium-sized Entrepreneurship", which was initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"School Business Start" is aimed at stimulating entrepreneurship skills from an early age, including the development of economic literacy of students to ensure a decent quality of life and the possibility of a more informed choice of professional activity through immersion in team-project activities. The project was launched in 2022 on behalf of the Head of Tatarstan. Taking into account the plans for this academic year, 34 thousand schoolchildren from 34 districts of the republic will be covered by educational activities within the framework of the project," noted the First Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan Natalia Kondratova.
In 2024, 49 schools will be covered by the project. Among them are 11 Kazan schools (more than 3 thousand schoolchildren will be trained), 10 educational institutions from Naberezhnye Chelny, as well as 28 schools from 17 districts of the republic: Zelenodolsk, Pestrechinsky, Kukmorsky, Buinsky, Kaibitsky, Tetyushsky, Chistopolsky, Alkeevsky, Spassky, Nizhnekamsk, Yelabuga, Mendeleevsky, Almetyevsk, Menzelinsky, Zainsky, Sarmanovsky and Laishevsky.
Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan Minzaliya Zakirova:
"Today our children understand that in the changed conditions of life in society, the one who knows how to find his profession and actively develop in it becomes successful. We consider the project "School Business Start", implemented with the support of the Head of the Republic, as one of the forms of organization of such work and an excellent launch pad, giving an opportunity for early professional self-determination. The project has become a successful part of the Unified Career Guidance Model implemented since September 2023 as part of the development of the unified educational space of the country. Its main difference is an increase in the share of practice–oriented activities. This is exactly what the School Business Start project is.
Classes will be held in several stages. At the first of them, in September-October, the guys, divided into groups of 60 people, will draw up a portrait of an entrepreneur and undergo special testing, as well as present their own projects (having previously prepared a business plan and developed a PR campaign).
Students who successfully cope with the business game will receive in-depth training in theoretical and practical entrepreneurial skills in the next round of the project. These will be training team seminars on the creation of school companies, at the end of which participants will present their projects to expert entrepreneurs. The students who have passed this test will go to the next level of the project. Before the New Year, they will participate in a charity school fair, and then the business case championship.
The final meeting of school business companies is scheduled for spring 2025. Let us recall that the award of the three winning teams of the project in the 2023-2024 season was a trip to Moscow, where they visited the Technopark and the Skolkovo Business School.
According to First Deputy General Director of the Entrepreneurship Support Fund of the Republic of Tatarstan – Head of the My Business Center Linara Burkhanova, the Republic of Tatarstan is an example of excellent interdepartmental cooperation, when different ministries and departments cooperate, and such projects as "School Business Start" are really born, which have great prospects:
"The involvement of schoolchildren and students in entrepreneurial activity is one of the key directions of the national project "Small and medium-sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative". According to the law, entrepreneurial activity can be conducted from the age of 14, and the My Business center can become a reference point for young entrepreneurs, where they can not only register a business, but also receive all federal and regional business support measures."