Russian students are returning to school, where they face new lessons to boost their patriotism

TALLINN – Clad in white shirts and sporting bouquets, youngsters throughout Russia flocked again to faculty Friday, where the Kremlin’s narratives concerning the war in Ukraine and its war of words with the West had been taking an much more outstanding spot than prior to.

Students are anticipated every week to concentrate to Russia’s nationwide anthem and watch the rustic’s tricolor flag being raised. There’s a weekly matter loosely translated as “Conversations about Important Things,” which was once presented closing yr with the function of boosting patriotism.

A new highschool historical past textbook has a bankruptcy at the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the “special military operation” — the Kremlin’s euphemism for the conflict, and a few fundamental army coaching is integrated in a direction on self-defense and primary support.

President Vladimir Putin even were given concerned, individually assembly Friday with 30 faculty students from other areas and describing Russians as “an invincible nation.” The Kremlin known as it “an open lesson” as a part of the “Conversations About Important Things” program of research.

“School … is a powerful mechanism for raising a person subordinate to the state,” said Nikolay Petrov, visiting researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. “For a while the school was outside the active attention of the state. Today, it’s all coming back.”

The Kremlin changed into preoccupied with what was once at the minds of younger folks a number of years in the past, when youngsters and students flocked to unauthorized protests arranged through now-imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

“The Kremlin suddenly began to pay a lot of attention to children and the youth,” Petrov famous.

Putin began assembly with younger folks ceaselessly, and government began making an investment in pushing its political narrative. The effort gave the impression to be pushed through the belief that a complete technology of people that grew up with Putin as president “can think differently than the Kremlin wants them to,” the analyst stated.

There were widespread media studies lately about academics dressing down, shouting or calling police on students who categorical enhance for the opposition or anti-government perspectives.

The crackdown intensified after Moscow despatched troops to Ukraine, and academics had been fired or pressured to hand over after refusing to cling periods of the “Conversations About Important Things.” Parents faced pressure from school administrators and authorities if their children skipped those lessons.

Earlier this year, authorities the town of Yefremov, south of Moscow, convicted and imprisoned a single father whose daughter drew an antiwar sketch at school.

The Education Ministry has unveiled an 11th grade history textbook, with a chapter covering Russia from 2014 to the present. It justifies the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Ukraine, and paints the West as hostile toward Moscow. Questions about the fighting were featured in a sample of the final history exam that authorities recently released.

The practical course on self-defense and first aid now includes some basic military training, with students being taught about various weapons and lectures on information warfare and the dangers of extremist groups.

Some parents say they are rattled by these mandatory lessons.

“I’ve discovered that, to my horror, ideological lessons have become mandatory for my daughters and there is no chance of avoiding that,” stated Sergei, a Muscovite whose two daughters have simply began highschool. He and different folks spoke to The Associated Press at the situation that their closing names now not be published out of issues for their protection.

“I now have to explain and ask the girls to be more careful with what they say in school in order to not to inflict harm on themselves,” he said.

Sergei said his daughters, whose hobby is ballroom dancing, are “all of a sudden asking questions about the flight range of missiles and drones.”

“The mind of school students becomes militarized, history textbooks are being re-written, mandatory ideology is being imposed, he said. “Russian schools rapidly turn back to the worst Soviet examples, when two histories and two truths existed.”

A mum or dad now has fewer alternatives to give protection to youngsters “from brainwashing,” he added.

Other Muscovites advised AP they had been fortunate to have their youngsters attend colleges where academics were not following the directives to the letter, attempting to avoid politics.

“We got teachers who understand everything. They won’t say out loud that they’re against ‘Conversations About Important Things,’” said Vladimir, whose daughter is in a Moscow school.

“We got a teacher who came up with her own content for the lesson and talked about, for example, theater, history of Moscow, other depoliticized topics without ideology,” he stated.

Anna, whose son attends center faculty in Moscow, additionally stated she is thankful to the varsity and its directors for now not taking “an aggressive stance” and now not resorting to propaganda. She stated the varsity has the weekly anthem rite and featured a lesson about Crimea closing yr, however little else, “so I’m not worried about it.”

Vladimir believes that academics who are well-educated, important thinkers shall be ready to circumvent the necessities. If they are “crafty and flexible,” he stated, they will most likely “formally implement what they’re being told, but in reality quietly sabotage it.”

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Follow AP’s protection of the conflict in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine