Russia: Schools have turned into “factories of compliance” through state indoctrination and surveillance of children

The Russian authorities are denying children their right to quality education by using propaganda-filled textbooks and lectures to indoctrinate children and justify Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, while suppressing free expression, independent thinking and access to information, Amnesty International said today. A new briefing, “Only Official Sources”: Indoctrination in the Russian Educational System, documents how children across Russia and Russian-occupied Ukraine are being subjected to oppressive state ideology via a centrally controlled curriculum. It also details how teachers are instructed to monitor their students online, collect files with information about their opinions and report dissenting views on political and social issues to the authorities. “Russian schools are being converted from temples of knowledge into factories of compliance. It is the Russian state itself which defines what children must learn about Russia, its neighbours, and the rest of the world. While using schools for political propaganda is not unique to Russia, the intensity and scale of the Kremlin’s efforts to put indoctrination at the centre of the education system are systemic,” said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. While using schools for political propaganda is not unique to Russia, the intensity and scale of the Kremlin’s efforts to put indoctrination at the centre of the education system are systemic Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia “Russian textbooks present a single view of history, which justifies any decision taken in Moscow to use force against its neighbours. They portray Russia’s ongoing…

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