Russias School Year Begins With Increased Surveillance, Patriotism, and Exclusionary Policies

Students from schools and universities throughout Russia celebrated the beginning of the academic year on Monday, a day recognized as Knowledge Day.

Under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has sought to shape school and university curriculums to align with its political agenda, gradually turning educational institutions into platforms for ideological influence.

This trend has intensified since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, characterized by weekly patriotic lessons, the introduction of new history textbooks that reflect the Kremlin’s viewpoint, and increased funding for militarized youth programs.

This year, students will again find their educational environment affected by the ongoing war, contingent upon their access to a system that is becoming increasingly exclusive toward specific communities.

As the school year begins, migrant children will face restrictions on enrollment unless they succeed in passing a Russian language proficiency test and can demonstrate proof of residency.

Rights advocates have strongly condemned the new law enacted in April, expressing concerns that it will marginalize migrant children and create conditions ripe for their radicalization and potential involvement in criminal activities.

Olga Abramenko, a specialist from the Memorial Anti-Discrimination Center, informed Novaya Gazeta Europe that while other nations require assessments for migrant children, “the intention is not to exclude those deemed unworthy of education.”

“Such assessments in other countries aim to chart educational pathways and establish integration classes with intensive language training… Russia’s practice of segregation is unparalleled globally,” Abramenko noted.

According to data collected by the RBC business daily, 81% of the 1,800 foreign children who sought to enroll in Russian schools this year were prevented from taking the necessary language proficiency test due to application mistakes or insufficient paperwork.

While national statistics on the number of migrant children that began school on September 1 are still pending, information shared by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin indicates that most individuals registered for the language test did not pass.

For example, only three out of 14 candidates in the northern republic of Komi received passing scores, and in the Sverdlovsk region, only 13 out of 66 passed, as revealed by Volodin.

Volodin’s assertion that “one in ten children without Russian citizenship failed the test” in Tatarstan drew criticism from the region’s leader, Rustam Minnikhanov, who became one of the first prominent figures to speak against these admission practices.

“How can we deny a child the right to education? Where should they go?… Any child can learn the language within three or four months. There is no cause for concern,” Minnikhanov remarked in a public meeting with education professionals in August, instructing the regional education ministry to provide free Russian language courses for migrant children.

“We rely on migrants — they comprise our workforce… And largely, they are law-abiding and capable citizens,” he further stated.

In contrast, a select group of migrant students will be subjected to closer scrutiny from school officials tasked with identifying “signs of illegal behavior” among them, as dictated by new guidelines from the Ministry of Education.

Effective from September 1, the number of hours dedicated to teaching Indigenous languages and literature in first-grade classes across Russian schools will be cut to a mere hour per week.

Over 30 languages indigenous to Russia are officially recognized in its 21 ethnic republics. This legal recognition ostensibly allows these languages to be utilized in legislative processes, court cases, and educational settings.

However, in practice, their usage is increasingly restricted to homes, especially following the Kremlin’s 2017 decision to cease mandatory instruction of these languages in Russia’s ethnic republics.

Teachers, activists, and even notable officials from regions like Tatarstan, Sakha (Yakutia), Altai, and Mari El have vocally criticized the Education Ministry’s decision to reduce hours for language instruction when it was announced in July.

“One hour of language instruction cannot produce meaningful outcomes,” a former Tatar language educator in Kazan, Tatarstan’s capital, commented to The Moscow Times.

“Even motivated adults who engage with private tutors for two hours weekly find it insufficient, so what can one expect from a single instructor teaching a class of 30 mainly unmotivated students for only one hour per week?” they said, requesting anonymity for safety reasons.

Describing the decision to maintain any language instruction as merely a “symbolic gesture,” the teacher pointed out that even the two to three hours previously allotted for Indigenous languages were inadequate to ensure their lasting presence amid the predominance of the Russian language.

“The reduction in first-grade language instruction hours is just the beginning. I anticipate that this measure will soon extend to middle and high school,” the educator warned. “It’s a disaster.”

On September 1, over 100 preschools in Russia and occupied Ukrainian territories implemented “Important Conversations” lessons for children aged 3 to 7, as part of a pilot initiative designed to broaden a program endorsed by Putin.

Originally introduced in primary and secondary schools shortly after Russia’s comprehensive invasion of Ukraine, the new “Important Conversations” aim to instill “respect for Russian culture and history, love for the Motherland,” and family values, according to the Education Ministry.

The ministry has also released a list of 37 “patriotic” songs recommended for use in music classes, featuring everything from Soviet classics like David Tukhmanov’s “Victory Day” to contemporary tracks from pro-war pop artist Shaman.

Teachers and parents are being urged to shift all communications to Max, a domestic application anticipated to serve as Russia’s national messaging platform, akin to China’s WeChat.

Educators and parents from various regions have confirmed this change to The Moscow Times.

Although still in development, Max has already become known for its significant privacy shortcomings, as the app’s developer, VK, shares its user data with security agencies.

Since 2023, admission quotas for veterans of the Ukraine conflict and members of the security forces stationed in occupied territories — including their children — have been established, with the enrollment numbers growing annually.

This year, nearly 3,000 veterans and their children were admitted to Russia’s top 18 universities, marking a 58% increase compared to the previous year, as reported by the exiled investigative organization IStories.

An analysis of enrollment data by IStories indicates that over 70% of students admitted via these quotas would not satisfy the admission requirements if competing fairly with other applicants.

Looking ahead, the Kremlin plans to extend the program to include the wives and widows of veterans beginning in 2026.

“Universities remain havens for independent thinkers and subtle dissenters. The inclusion of veterans’ spouses and widows, admitted under preferential conditions, will alter the composition of these institutions to align more closely with Kremlin interests,” scholar Yan Levchenko expressed in a recent op-ed for The Moscow Times.

At the same time, the total number of government-subsidized places in all Russian universities has decreased by 2,000 compared to last year, while tuition fees continue to rise, making higher education less accessible to the average Russian student.

Furthermore, veterans of the Ukraine war are increasingly becoming part of the teaching staff in Russian schools.

Soldiers who participated in the conflict have led approximately 40,000 patriotic lessons since the onset of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, with at least 100 former soldiers currently employed as teachers, according to an investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europe.

Veterans have also been appointed as principals in several known cases, with the most recent being Vladimir Sterekhov, a veteran who assumed leadership of a school in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city.

«My goal is to foster a unique environment where everyone can comfortably grow, acquire new knowledge, and achieve new heights. We will be establishing a forward-thinking school that is modern, creative, and open to new ideas and technologies,» Sterekhov was quoted as saying by news outlets.