‘Deliberately priming teachers’ New guidelines call on Russian teachers to monitor foreign students for signs of ‘criminal tendencies’
New guidelines issued to Russian teachers tell them to keep a closer eye on foreign students — from the words they use in class to the websites they visit — in a bid to spot potential “criminal tendencies.” The instructions, laid out by regional education ministries, flag frequent political and religious discussions, as well as disparaging attitudes toward “Russian values” and state symbols, as potential warning signs. Here’s a closer look at what they call for.
Russian schoolteachers have been told to monitor what foreign students say in class, looking for signs of possible “criminal tendencies.” According to Vedomosti, this is set out in guidelines posted on the websites of the education ministries in Russia’s Republic of Bashkortostan and the Sverdlovsk and Smolensk regions.
The documents instruct teachers to watch for phrases in students’ written work that might suggest a disparaging attitude toward historical memory, traditional Russian values, or state symbols. They also call on educators to note how foreign students respond to “Important Conversations,” Russia’s “patriotic” lesson series introduced after the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine.
Teachers are further advised to take note if students begin speaking more often about political, social, or religious topics — particularly if they express “extreme opinions” or show “signs of intolerance.” Interest in websites containing “shock content” or “destructive information” is also flagged as a concern.
To get what the guidelines call an “objective picture,” teachers are encouraged to conduct anonymous surveys and one-on-one conversations with students in informal settings. For the “prevention of unlawful actions,” schools are told they can organize “general activities” meant to instill “Russia’s spiritual and moral values,” teach the basics of the law, promote social etiquette, and emphasize national priorities and the country’s historical memory.
Vsevolod Lukhovitsky, co-chair of the teachers’ union Uchitel, told Vedomosti that schools can decide for themselves whether to adopt these recommendations. He argued that the language is problematic. “Why should we deliberately prime teachers to think that it’s specifically the children of foreign citizens who will engage in unlawful conversations?” he said.
Family psychologist Anastasia Kotelnikova told Vedomosti that one-off assemblies about values and the law rarely change behavior. “Values shouldn’t be a lecture — they should be an environment,” she said. “Through rules, skill-building, joint activities, and consistent, predictable discipline.”
The Education Ministry said the guidelines were developed jointly with the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, with input from staff at the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education.
On August 12, lawmakers in the State Duma introduced a bill that would require foreign students in Russia’s public schools to pay tuition. The bill’s authors argue that the number of “migrant children” in Russian schools has grown, leading to overcrowding, heavier workloads for teachers, and the need to raise their salaries. Earlier in the month, Alexander Reut, director of the Education Ministry’s department for state policy in general and preschool education, said the idea of charging tuition to foreign students would violate Russia’s Constitution.
We usually do the talking at fundraisers. This time, we’ll let our readers speak for us. “I live in Russia and cannot send donations to Meduza, which is incredibly important to me as a source of reliable information. I have no friends abroad, and I ask you, a stranger to me, to support Meduza, and with it, hope for a normal future for Russia. This hope fades with each passing day. It’s unbearable to listen to propaganda and encounter people poisoned by it, especially children.” — Svetlana