The large number of different professions and specialisations that existed under Soviet rule was drastically reduced, and smaller, singlesubject vocational schools merged into more comprehensive educational establishments (OECD, 2001). However, at 3% of GDP, public and private expenditure on primary', secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary educational institutions in 2011 remains considerably below the OECD average of 3.8% of GDP (OECD, 2014a, Chart B2.2). Section 2 examines the policies to improve school attendance.