Back to school around the world

Moscow

Tanya Zarutskaya is a slender, nervous, and shy young woman who says her life's passion is mathematics. She's just about to enter the 11th grade, which in Russia is the last year of public school. She attends Moscow School No. 57. "I love my school," she says. "It's the best math school in Moscow. Our main courses are algebra, geometry, mathematical analysis, and physics."

The coming year will be tough for Tanya, as her performance in final exams will determine her ability to get into university. "There's a lot of pressure, but I'm not worried," she says. "I'll have to cut back on socializing with friends, listening to music, and going out. But I'm one of those people who likes to study. I don't feel bad when I'm alone with a book."

She's not exactly eager for exams, though. "I don't think they can show what your real knowledge is. During the coming school year, we will be constantly tested, in order to prepare us for those final exams. The only subjects I have problems with are languages.... But I do OK."

Students remain together in the same class, often from Grade 1 through graduation. So, not surprisingly, classmates are often friends for life. Even though Tanya came to School 57 only two years ago, her present classmates constitute her entire social circle. "Whenever one of us has a birthday, we all celebrate together," she says. "We chip in for the cake, and some presents. Sometimes we compose a special song."

She traveled with a group of classmates this summer to the historic Russian cities of Tver and St. Petersburg, staying in hostels and eating on the cheap. "I love to travel," she says. "When you're with your best friends,

it's fun and it's easy. Whatever problem comes up, someone figures out a way to solve it."

Tanya's greatest hope is to be accepted by the math department at Moscow State University, Russia's most prestigious center of higher learning. Her ultimate goal is to work in cybernetics, the study of artificial intelligence. "Cybernetics is going to change the world in the next decades," she says. Competition for places in the department is fierce.

With Russia still in a post-Soviet economic recession, Tanya is unsure of her job prospects. "I can't plan that far ahead," she says. "In this country, there are university graduates working as maids and fruit vendors."

Nairobi, Kenya

Caroline Wainaina is a Form 4 student (senior) at St. Theresa's Girls Secondary School in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

She spent half her August holiday taking what's known as "tuition" - optional extra classes - to prepare for final exams in her eight subjects, scheduled for October and November.

"When you know this is your last year," she says, "you feel more serious; you've stopped all that childish stuff."

She lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Eastleigh, a working-class neighborhood. Her father is a businessman who runs, among other things, a butcher shop. Her mother is a community health nurse.

She says her parents are investing a lot in education for her and her younger siblings. Her school fees are about 15,000 shillings ($200) a year, more than half the average annual income in Kenya. Meanwhile, her older sister is studying computers at a London college.

"It's the most important thing. You just have to be educated to become someone of importance in the future," she says.

Wainaina says getting a degree from a university overseas would give her an added advantage. "I would like to join my sister in Britain," she says. "There are [university] graduates here who have even a master's and don't have a job."

When she finishes school, she's considering being a journalist. "I would like to be seen on TV, reading the news."

Wainaina has already appeared on television, as part of a debating team during her final year of primary school. She also successfully auditioned for the National Youth Theatre.

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