The School Bell That Rings for War

On 1 September, recognized in Russia as Information Day, 1000’s of schoolchildren have been as soon as once more welcomed again with the ringing of the symbolic first bell, marking the start of recent faculty 12 months. Nonetheless, this faculty bell doesn’t toll for information or peace. As a substitute, it symbolizes how Russia has reworked faculties into factories of transmitting state-sponsored propaganda to youthful generations.

In 2024, the Committee on the Rights of the Little one expressed ‘critical concern’ concerning the interference of the ruling social gathering within the instructional course of. That included glorification of the members within the armed battle in Ukraine [or the so-called ‘Special Military Operation’]; in addition to the widespread and systematic state propaganda in faculties with the introduction of a brand new historical past textbook, a compulsory faculty topic “Dialog about essential issues” and a coaching handbook for lecturers that convey the federal government’s place on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.  The Russian facet in its reply declared the Committee’s considerations as being rooted in a neglect of the “cultural peculiarities in addition to conventional religious and ethical values enshrined within the Russian laws,” and has  since solely intensified its authoritarian grip on schooling. In line with the Russian unbiased journalistic undertaking ‘Agentstvo’ investigation, through the 2024-2025 educational 12 months, roughly 12% of all educational hours (about 1,300 out of 11,000) included pure propaganda components selling the government-backed view on the conflict in opposition to Ukraine and elevated army coaching.

On this weblog, I clarify how Russia is strategically weaponizing the tutorial system to lift a militarized era of topics that accepts and embraces the normalcy of conflict. It seeks to attain this aim, inter alia, by means of army coaching and involvement of youngsters within the manufacturing of fight gear; obligating lecturers to show state-mandated falsification of historical past; and forcing cultural assimilation of Ukrainians residing in occupied territories.

Placing youngsters’s schooling within the service of conflict

In 2023 I already raised concern that abolishing the requirement for parental consent to contain youngsters in labor actions through the studying course of could pave the best way to partaking youngsters in war-supporting actions. This appeared justified, as since then the NGO ‘CCE Almenda’ which paperwork Russian crimes in opposition to youngsters has verified circumstances in Russia-occupied Crimea about youngsters’s involvement in getting ready elements for drones, different Russian weapons, and stitching garments for Russian troopers.

An Insider investigation additional revealed that a whole lot of 1000’s of Russian schoolkids are serving to to construct drones that assault Ukrainians regularly. These packages are operated by a community of government-backed organizations associated to the Russian Ministry of Protection that masquerade as instructional golf equipment.  A few of the youngsters’s initiatives have been reportedly tailored for fight use. Kids have been reportedly forbidden to reveal the supposed nature of the initiatives, whereas being conscious that their innovations can be utilized within the conflict in opposition to Ukraine.

This militarization of college youngsters is now firmly embedded within the curriculum. Since September 2024, the topic “Fundamentals of Life Security” has been changed with “Fundamentals of Safety and Defence of the Homeland,” which includes elevated army coaching and teaches find out how to manufacture and function drones. In 2025, the UK’s Defence Intelligence additional revealed that Russia is actively integrating unmanned aerial methods coaching into its nationwide schooling system as a part of a broader effort to instil a army ethos inside Russian society. It has reportedly skilled greater than 2,500 lecturers, run programs in over 500 faculties and geared up 30 schools with hands-on apply hubs.

Latest footage from the Yelabuga manufacturing plant within the Tatarstan area additional confirmed using minors in producing deadly drones. Teenagers as younger as 14 are invited to check and work on the manufacturing unit in addition to recruited by means of science camps and competitions to develop and educate drone expertise, elevating considerations over little one labour in army manufacturing. RFE/RL’s Idel.Realities has additionally collected credible testimonies that youngsters have been reportedly pressured to work exceedingly lengthy hours, typically with out correct breaks or meals, and below hostile circumstances which have deeply affected their psychological well being, in clear violation of ILO requirements on little one labour.

Involving minors within the manufacturing of weapons in addition to introducing fight coaching into the common curriculum additionally violates Russia’s obligations below worldwide legislation. Article 32 of the Conference on the Rights of the Little one prohibits financial exploitation of youngsters, together with by performing any work that’s prone to be hazardous or to intervene with the kid’s schooling, or to be dangerous to the kid’s well being or bodily, psychological, religious, ethical or social growth. The inclusion of fight drone coaching into the common faculty curriculum and extracurricular actions can also be in stress with Article 29 CRC. This mandates schooling “to be directed to the event of the kid’s persona, skills and psychological and bodily talents to their fullest potential; in addition to preparation for a accountable life in a free society, within the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance… [].. and friendship amongst all peoples, ethnic, nationwide and non secular teams and individuals of indigenous origin.”

Propaganda as a instructing obligation

Since 2024, in line with the Federal Legislation on Schooling, all instructing employees is obligated to hold out their actions primarily based on ‘conventional Russian religious and ethical values’. As well as, any pedagogical exercise in Russia should not solely present factual information but additionally domesticate a way of patriotism in addition to ‘respect for the reminiscence of the Russia’s defenders’ inside college students. The trainer interviewed by Novaya Gazeta famous that the brand new amendments are geared toward reworking her topic [literature] right into a propaganda software, similar to within the Soviet occasions. The one distinction is that the ideology of communism is substituted with an ideology of “conventional values”, army patriotism and total militarism. These observations echo the CRC’s considerations relating to the politization and militarization of Russian schooling. In line with OVD-Information, lecturers who refuse to advertise the federal government’s militaristic agenda develop into the topic of harassment and state-sponsored persecutions.

Militarized schooling as a part of historic falsification

The Kremlin has additionally continued its use of historic schooling as a software of indoctrination in addition to its falsification of historical past to justify its conflict in opposition to Ukraine. It’s telling, on this regard, that the 2024 Decree establishing ‘Fundamentals of State Coverage of the Russian Federation within the Discipline of Historic Schooling” was the primary one to be signed by Putin after re-election as president. The Decree reiterates that government-prescribed understanding of the ‘previous and current of Russia’ is among the foundations of the ‘all-Russian civil identification’. It additionally highlights the significance of ‘countering makes an attempt to belittle the feat of the individuals in defending the Fatherland.’ This seems to focus on each the reminiscence of the Second World Conflict, whose solely heroic and optimistic framing is protected by felony and administrative legislation sanctions, in addition to criticism in opposition to the present Russian conflict in opposition to Ukraine, which may additionally result in each felony or administrative sanctions. For instance, stating that the Soviet military dedicated conflict crimes through the Second World Conflict might be labelled as ‘rehabilitation of Nazism.’ Equally, citing Russia’s duty for the Bucha bloodbath through the full-scale invasion of Ukraine can result in 8-years of imprisonment for ‘spreading false details about the Russian Military’.

Putin additionally declared 2025 the 12 months of the Defender of the Fatherland, linking it to the 80-year anniversary of the victory over Nazism within the Second World Conflict. Nonetheless, the aim of the celebration additionally consists of “recognizing the feat of the members within the particular army operation” [the war against Ukraine]. This narrative was additionally strengthened within the thematic lesson devoted to the ‘Defenders of the Fatherland’ through the ‘Dialog concerning the Vital Issues’ that are obligatory for all instructional establishments (protecting each pre-school and college schooling since 2025) in Russia and the territories it at present controls. The lecturers have been mandated to arrange the viewing and dialogue of a video interview with a veteran of the Nice Patriotic Conflict and a participant within the present conflict in opposition to Ukraine who’s formally known as the trendy ‘Hero of the Russian Federation.’ This drew handy parallels between the 2 occasions, in mild of Russia’s purported ‘denazification’ of Ukraine.

On 23 January 2025, the European Parliament adopted a decision condemning Russia’s ‘systematic falsification of historical past’ and using ‘distorted historic arguments’ to control public opinion in Russia in favour of its conflict of aggression in opposition to Ukraine. The European Parliament has additionally highlighted that these historic lies are used as a wider technique of destroying Ukraine’s cultural and historic identification, which is extensively carried out in faculties on Russia-occupied territories.

Pressured Cultural Assimilation

Notably, the execution of those insurance policies just isn’t restricted to Russia however extends to the occupied elements of Ukraine, that are included into Russia as federal topics in clear violation of worldwide legislation. Russia has thereby arbitrarily prolonged the appliance of all its laws, which means that each one measures regarding militarization and indoctrination now apply equally to the occupied areas. Extra laws seeks to impact cultural assimilation inside the occupied territories.  The “State Cultural Coverage Technique till 2030” authorized in 2024 explicitly states that integration of the “new federal topics of the Russian Federation” [meaning Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions] into the Russian cultural and humanitarian house as one of many key priorities for the next years. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission qualifies these actions as a possible violation of the occupying state’s obligations to respect the customs and traditions of the protected individuals and cites an particularly unfavourable affect on youngsters. The 2024 Technique on Countering Extremism in Russia immediately mentions Ukraine because the supply of main and world extremist menace, virtually equating figuring out your self as Ukrainian with being an ‘extremist’ and a menace to Russia’s safety.

Russian cultural assimilation carries an inherent militarization element, geared toward elevating a era of Ukrainians who not solely determine as Russians however are additionally compelled to see defending Russia’s pursuits on the battlefield as their ‘civic responsibility’. Radio Liberty undertaking “Donbass.Realities” reported that senior schoolchildren in native faculties are actively concerned within the militarized group Yunarmia or ‘Younger Military’ which capabilities as a de facto coaching floor for future Russian troopers and promotes voluntary enlistment. In 2025, Russian sources cited {that a} former “Yunarmia” member from Russia-occupied Donetsk, who signed a contract with Russian Armed Forces on his 18th Birthday, was killed in battle. The lethal penalties of Russian militarization additionally manifest within the memorial plaques positioned on faculties in occupied cities glorifying troopers killed within the present conflict in opposition to Ukraine. On this approach, Russian schooling coverage, developed and directed on the federal degree, turns into an efficient software for producing a brand new era of Ukrainians loyal to Russia and able to kill and die for it.

Conclusion

In 2024, the Committee on the Rights of the Little one beneficial that Russia put an finish to the politicization and militarization of faculties and make sure that its instructional coverage stays in keeping with article 29 of the CRC. It was additionally to stop rewriting faculty curricula and textbooks to mirror the political and army agenda of the Authorities. Russia has ignored these suggestions and as a substitute solely intensified its efforts to arrange a brand new era of Russian residents for a perpetual conflict in opposition to the exterior enemy. As listed within the 2024 Counter-Extremist Technique, at the moment’s main menace is Ukraine. Nonetheless, the narrative extends additional, figuring out a variety of so-called “unfriendly nations” – together with EU and NATO member states –  as endangering Russia’s conventional “religious and ethical values”.  Younger Russians in addition to their Ukrainian friends on occupied territories are accordingly being ready for an existential battle to defend these values. So long as Russian school rooms are continuosly militarized, any lasting peace will stay wishful pondering.

This text was produced as part of analysis undertaking 2024/53/N/HS5/00119 supported by the Polish Nationwide Science Middle. All views expressed are of Creator solely.