Unified State Exam (USE) and the Quality of Secondary School Education: Consequences of the Pandemic

Tatyana L. Klyachko – Director of Center of the Economics for Continuing Education of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor (Moscow, Russia). Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Elena A. Semionova – Leading Researcher of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Economic Sciences (Moscow, Russia). E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Galina S. Tokareva – Researcher of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Moscow, Russia). E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The surveys conducted by the RANEPA’s Center for Lifelong Learning Economics have shown that parents and secondary school teachers alike believe that the pandemic has not significantly affected the school system’s performance in preparing students for their final exams. Nevertheless, children from low-income families and those living in rural areas were found to be the most vulnerable to the effects of containment measures and the switchover to online learning. This circumstance may contribute to the increasing inequality in educational opportunities for young people, including in the field of secondary vocational education.

Key words: general education, quality of education, OGE, USE, pandemic.

JEL-codes: I21, I24, I26.