"Genie" Putin computerizes remote village school

OMSK, January 29 (Itar-Tass) -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
fulfilled his promise to become a "genie" for a remote Siberian village
school, which has developed into an unprecedented high-tech educational
facility as a result.
The secondary school in the village of Starodubka, a hundred
kilometers from the city of Omsk, will hold on Friday the start-up
ceremony for a computer class with 15 Internet-linked notebooks,
interactive school boards, multimedia projector, a set of educational
programs on laser disks, printer, scanner and special trolleys to move the
class from one room to another.
The two-floor school with 63 pupils of the 5-9th forms became the most
computerized one in Russia boasting one computer per three schoolchildren,
which is seven-fold above the average Russian ratio, according to the Omsk
regional education ministry.
During a televised question-and-answer session last December Putin
received an SMS from 9th form pupil Tanya Kopninskaya, who complained
there were only three computers in her school.
"Could you give us some money?" the girl asked.
"As Old Khottabych I will provide computers for each pupil of your
school," Putin responded.
Old Khottabych is a popular Soviet fantasy comedy film also known as
The Flying Carpet. Genie Khottabych exercises supernatural power and is
ready to fulfill any wish of his 12-year old friend Volka.
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