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Abstract: A problem of availability and quality of secondary general education is given more attention nowadays within institutional and systematic approaches. This is due to the fact that school is a centerpiece of educational system and it renders direct impact on person’s socialization, upbringing and development. It in its turn predetermines a quality of human resources of the country. Availability of secondary general education is influenced by both sociocultural characteristics connected with an interaction within the family and external factors like social, economic and cultural types of family background. They are dependent on the conditions provided by the government. External factors impact the possibilities for status reproduction or create conditions for ascending social mobility of a student. Territorial barriers (levels of territory urbanization, structure of economy, etc.) significantly affect availability and quality of education in contemporary society. As a result, school leavers are not provided with equal opportunities. On the contrary, they are selected according to their parents’ status and family income level and it leads to lowering social claims of those students whose status or budget doesn’t allow to get education in institutions with high selection criteria or fee-paying system. It results in legitimization of inheriting status positions, inequality reinforcement and reproduction. Sociological, political and economic surveys register a rise of social inequality, with a subsequent growth of social tension and social and psychological instability in the Russian Federation. The process of equalizing conditions for quality and availability of general and professional education is a key to stability and success of Russian society.