Schooling at School No. 193 (1960 - 1968)

On September 1, 1960, Vladimir Putin began his schooling at School No. 193 located on Baskov Lane in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), near his family home. At the time, Putin was just eight years old and entered the Soviet educational system, which emphasized discipline, collective values, and loyalty to the state. In a class of about 45 pupils, Putin stood out as one of the few students who were not yet members of the Young Pioneers, the youth wing of the Komsomol (Communist Union of Youth). The Young Pioneers were a widespread Soviet organization that aimed to inculcate socialist values in children, and membership was almost a given for school-age children. However, Putin’s delayed entry into this organization indicates a somewhat slower integration into the structured political life expected of Soviet youth at the time. From first and eighth grade, Vladimir Putin studied at School No. 193. As he recalls, he was a troublemaker, not a Pioneer. His teacher, Vera Gurevich, recalls, “In the fifth grade, he still hadn’t found himself yet, but I could feel the potential, the energy and the character in him. I saw that he had a great deal of interest in language; he picked it up easily. He had a very good memory and an agile mind. I thought, something good will come of this boy, so I decided to give him more attention, to distract him from the boys on the streets.” [Source: http://en.putin.kremlin.ru/bio/page-1] #VladimirPutin #SchoolNo193 #YoungPioneers #SovietUnion #Leningrad #MomentsOfLife #MoofLife_Moment #MoofLife