In Irkutsk, about 68.5 thousand schoolchildren, including more than 8 thousand first graders, will start the new school year. Authorities note a rise in student numbers and are preparing for a further increase in school load. Plans include opening several new schools and gradually moving all schools to one shift by 2025.

About 68,500 students will take their seats in Irkutsk schools, including only 3,100 11th-grade graduates and 5,700 9th-grade graduates. More than 8,000 first-graders will come to Irkutsk schools. This was reported at a press conference on August 26 by Valentina Peregudova, head of the education department of the Irkutsk city administration.
Over the past three years, the number of children in schools has increased by 3,500. The reason is natural population growth, a high birth rate, internal migration of the population, an influx of migrants, and the high level of development in the Irkutsk District.
As Valentina Peregudova said, a significant increase in the number of first-graders in the schools of the regional center should be expected in 2018-20 (the birth-rate surge in 2011-13). The administration plans to open several new schools in Irkutsk on Bagration Street for 550 places, on Lenskaya Street (School No. 66) for 200 places, at the HPP dam (School No. 64) for 350 places, in the Evolyutsiya microdistrict (Leninsky District), and in the Lesnoy microdistrict for 360 places.
All schools in Irkutsk have been accepted by supervisory authorities. In some educational institutions, repair work was carried out during the summer holidays. More than 100 million rubles were allocated from the city budget.
In the 2015-2016 academic year, almost all Irkutsk schools will operate in two shifts. By 2025, all general education institutions are planned to be switched to one shift.
"It is mandatory for students in grades 1, 5, 9, and 11, as well as students who study in classes for children with delayed mental development, to study in the first shift. In Irkutsk there are overcrowded schools that are in demand by parents for various reasons: No. 11, 14, 19, 23, 24, 39, 53, 57, 63, 64, 66, 80, Education Center No. 47, gymnasiums No. 3, 25, 44, and Lyceum No. 3," noted the head of Irkutsk's education department.
As a reminder, the school assemblies on Knowledge Day in Irkutsk will traditionally begin at 10 a.m.