When Pavel Tkachev heard about the special lessons for the war in Ukraine, which took place at his son’s high school in the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg earlier this month, he was furious.
“I called them and said it was ridiculous,” he told the Observer. “We are the parents and we are the ones who have to tell the children about patriotism and the ‘special operation’, not the schools.
Similar lectures were given to students in schools across the country, condemning the “fascists” in Ukraine and suggesting that Russia was acting in “self-defense.” Tkachev said he was particularly angry at comparisons to World War II, which he called “unforgivable”.
School officials “shrugged and said these were the instructions,” he said. “I was disgusted.”
Russia’s plans to overhaul education go hand in hand with its war in Ukraine. Officials are writing curricula to justify the invasion, and have suggested schools raise flags and sing the national anthem every morning in September. A major Russian textbook publisher reportedly used automated verification software to edit positive references to Ukraine in its textbooks.
According to the Russian Ministry of Education, history will become a compulsory subject in the first grade. “We will never allow it [to be written] that in some way we treated other peoples badly – our fraternal peoples Ukraine and Belarus, “said Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov, who announced the new initiative at the opening of an exhibition called” Daily Nazism. ” “We will do everything in our power to preserve the historical memory.
There is a clear degree of political opportunism in the use of students for propaganda. As Russia announced a contested victory in Mariupol last week, Andrei Turchak, leader of the ruling United Russia party, took a step towards a local school in the city.
While there, he told the disciples, “The victory will be ours. The enemy will be defeated and the peaceful life of this land will finally come … we will liberate this territory and cleanse it of fascist demons. ”
But there is also a new level of pressure on teachers, sometimes to organize pro-war photos with children or in other cases to hide their anti-war sentiment from their students. “I know many teachers who have hidden their online profiles, they are very careful to talk about politics at school,” said Maria, a high school teacher in Voronezh.
Lyubov Zhiltsova, a math teacher and politician from Pskov, faced a police investigation last week for an image on social media, on which she holds a sign reading “No to War”.
Graffiti with the inscription “No War” in Moscow. Photo: Getty Images
“The whole world turned upside down for me. I am preparing events for May 9 [Victory Day] every year I write a screenplay, rehearse… And now how can I talk about it with the children? ” she told Radio Liberty. “I couldn’t keep quiet, I was on fire.”
One of the first Russians to be subject to a new law banning “fakes” for the Russian military was a teacher who now faces 10 years in prison. “I was hoping to break through the propaganda that is being nurtured in this country. But look where it took me, “said Irina Genn, a 55-year-old English and German language teacher. It is reported by her own students.
Education officials have promised further changes to Russia’s curriculum and new patriotic initiatives, apparently inspired by the war. Some, such as the flag and anthem, seem inspired by such right-wing efforts in the United States.
Others are specific to the Russian war in Ukraine. Kravtsov told Putin last week that they had already begun developing lessons for “the purpose of the special operation – to help our people, denazification, demilitarization of Donbass.”
The goal was to fight the “barrage of misinformation … counterfeits about Russia.”
The lessons are “tentatively called” Conversations on Important Topics “.
“And from September 1, there will also be the raising of the national flag at the beginning of the school week, the performance of the national anthem,” he said.
Leaked manuals for this year’s special lectures show that Russian teachers are being told to tell students that Russia has not invaded Ukraine, but instead is practicing “self-defense against the threats posed to us and an even greater disaster than what is being said.” is happening today. “
In a separate lesson on “anti-Russian sanctions,” teachers are asked to ask students whether sanctions are fair, whether they will actually strengthen the Russian economy, and who they will harm (everyone).
“Teachers, together with students, conclude that economic policy in recent years is aimed at increasing the protection of local producers, ensuring its resilience in external crises,” the documents said.
Textbooks or methodological aids are not required so far, said Denis Lanshchikov, a history teacher at a private school in Moscow. But many teachers and administrators in public schools seem to have relied on them of their own accord, either because they supported the war or because they thought “Big Brother was watching.”
“It seems to me that this is not yet a top-down attempt to make schools totalitarian,” he said. “But then each person … creates this totalitarianism himself.”
Even primary school students face a certain level of indoctrination. “All the special events dedicated to the fact that Russia is fighting the fascists were held in all schools,” said Marina Litvinovich, an opposition politician in Moscow. In her son’s fourth grade, the children received a “lightweight version.” “They don’t quite understand it. So they went through [second world war] The blockade of Leningrad – and during the lesson they also said that “look, this is how Russia continues to fight against fascism.”
“The kids are a little cool about that,” she said of her son. She compares it to the indoctrination she went through as a student in the late Soviet era, saying: “When the Soviet Union fell, all this indoctrination flew away… so I’m not worried, it will fly away when you meet reality. It’s bad, but it’s not a disaster. “
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