With a view to popularising geography and enhancing the prestige of the profession of geographer, the Government of the Russian Federation has been instructed to institute a professional holiday – Geographer’s Day – to be marked on August 18, the day of the founding of the Russian Geographical Society.
The instructions to the Government also include classifying the economic activity of “conducting geographical research,” the definition of the functions of specialists in geography and the development of a relevant professional standard.
Individual instructions that were given to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Ministry of Education jointly with the RGS and other organisations provide for establishing centres for the study of geography by school students and upgrading the quality of instruction in geography in general education schools with due account of the priorities and other tasks of the scientific, technological and spatial development of the Russian Federation.