In the Russian Federation, there are 180,000 educational establishments of all types and categories. About 35 million people or 23 percent of the total population of the country are annually involved in one type of education or another. More than 6 million people are employed in the sphere of education.
The system of education in Russia evolved for centuries under the influence of Christianity, and since the end of the Seventeenth Century, under the influence of the Enlightenment. In the Twentieth Century, when general and professional education came more than ever to be considered as a factor of social and economic change and as an inherent individual right, illiteracy was eliminated, access to higher education was extended, and an educational system for adults was created. Many persons, however, came to feel that the educational system, that had been built up by the beginning of the 1980's, was not sufficiently flexible and not entirely capable of meeting the demands of individuals.