Hamburg (Germany), July 17 - "The Russians are very proud of their educational system. I think they need to be more open. They are still closed," says Lida Sheffer, one of just four Russian delegates (she is the only woman), all from NGOS, at the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA).

Lida Sheffer used to teach English to children in Russia, but left the profession in 1983 because she found the system too rigid. "Then, in 1991, when reform started, 1 opened a new school. There was no law, nobody knew how to do it," she says.

"In Russia, children must pass tests to go to school," says Sheffer. "In my opinion, it is not correct. Tests divide children into those who are good or not good. I thought my main task as a teacher was to create the possibility for all children to realize their abilities, without tests or marks."

Her fifty pupils are now going into the seventh grade, but Sheffer's alternative school has been shut down by new regulations. "Now it's very difficult to got accreditation. Officials don't like new schools."

Sheffer now concentrates on her "hobby", which is adult education for world citizenship. In 1992, she joined a Russian movement called Education for Survival, and a Geneva-based Organisation called the Institute for Planetary Synthesis, which she is representing at CONFTNTEA. She organises international conferences in Russia with the motto "Through education and global consciousness, to a conflict-free society."

"It is only through education that humanity will survive," says Sheffer. "I hear that here, and I am very glad."

For the last five years, Sheffer has also been involved in an educational exchange program between her city Zhukovsky, near Moscow, and Sydals Kommune, in Denmark. She admires the Danish system of education. "In Russia, you get good marks for book knowledge. In Denmark, you get an education from life - they learn from practical work. And education for all ages is possible."

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