The draft law drawn up by the Federation Council (parliament’s upper house) Committee on Science, Culture and Education was introduced so quietly that it took the education establishment, the press - and even the Education Ministry by surprise.

If the law is passed, private schools, kindergartens and institutes will need a licence to operate and to receive one they will have to fulfil two conditions: they must own their own premises and no more than 30 per cent of their teaching staff can hold other jobs.

Private schools have been the biggest educational development in Russia since the collapse of the Communist system, providing an alternative for parents anxious to take their children away from the state schools which still offer monotonous Soviet-style and sometimes partisan teaching.

Many private schools also offer free education to children with disabilities who are among those who cannot hope to benefit from the strict, inflexible approach of the state schools.

At one end of the spectrum the private schools are elite establishments offering etiquette lessons for vast fees to academically indiscriminating nouveau riche.

But for the most part parents are doctors, lawyers, journalists and teachers on poor salaries who are nevertheless willing to spend about 15 per cent (about Pounds 16 a month) of their income on their children’s education.

The draft law, if passed, would mean instant closure for most of these schools.

Only one school in the entire country of Russia - 13 time zones away from Moscow on Sakhalin Island - actually owns its premises.

The rest rent classroom space, often from state schools, thus giving them much needed extra income.

The second condition is equally prohibitive since the majority of these schools offer only low salaries and most of the teaching staff do hold second jobs, often in the state education sector.

While private school proponents are in favour of a licensing system which would demandcertain standards, they complain that this law seems merely prohibitive without offering any benefits.

State schools are automatically accredited without having to meet any safety or education standards and without even being inspected.

With no one, at this stage, getting rich from private education the big question is why anyone should want to attack the new schools which relieve pressure on the overstretched state structure as well as offering much needed employment.

According to Irina Orchinnikova, education correspondent for the country’s leading daily, Izvestia, the assault on private education is symptomatic of a general swing back to state control and against private initiative in all areas.

Private farms and private newspapers are similarly coming under attack.

“The issue is independence itself, most of all independence from government bureaucrats. Bureaucracy demands that everyone constantly seeks its permission for everything.

“The persecution of Russia’s private schools is yet another sign that we are returning to times that seemed completely behind us back in August 1991. And that is a serious matter indeed.”