Russia will step up its promotion of patriotic themes and traditional values in schools
This school year, Russian schools have introduced three times as many propaganda-related changes as last year. The changes affect academic subjects, military training, “traditional values,” and even the evaluation of student behavior.
This school year, Russian authorities announced seven major propaganda-oriented initiatives. The curriculum is placing increasing emphasis on so-called “traditional values,” patriotic education, and military themes.
One of the main changes has been the restructuring of social studies instruction. The subject has been removed from the 8th-grade curriculum, and in 9th grade and above, it will be taught using a new textbook.
The book was prepared by a team led by Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, with Dmitry Medvedev serving as editor-in-chief.
In particular, the textbook discusses the confrontation with the West, “traditional values,” and the dangers of social media. The first two social studies lessons in 9th grade are titled “Russia—Our Sacred State.”
Due to the transfer of social studies from 8th grade, the number of history class hours has increased. In 8th and 9th grades, students will study the subject using a textbook co-authored by Medinsky.
At the same time, the number of foreign language classes has been reduced from three to two per week.
In the second semester, a new subject, “Spiritual and Moral Culture of Russia,” will be introduced for fifth-graders.
Its stated goal is to foster “traditional values” through the study of state and public figures, cultural figures, scientists, and military personnel, including “heroes of the Great Patriotic War.”
In a year, this subject is also planned to be introduced for students in grades 6–7.
The course will replace the previous subject, “Fundamentals of the Spiritual and Moral Culture of the Peoples of Russia.”
The subject “Fundamentals of Homeland Security and Defense” will be divided into two required courses:
- “Life Safety”;
- “Basic Military Training.”
Each course will consist of 34 instructional hours.
In addition, Russian schools are introducing behavior grades.
Earlier, Russian Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov stated that one of the criteria could be students’ participation in the “Conversations About What Matters” and “First Movers” projects. However, this criterion is not yet included in the current guidelines.
Russian educational institutions are also implementing a concept of history education aimed at shaping a “patriotic” generation.
It is based, in particular, on the ideas of Soviet philosopher Georgy Shchedrovitsky, who believed it was possible to program human behavior.
The concept calls for uniting society and instilling a specific ideological worldview in young people.
Propaganda-driven changes in Russian education began to be actively implemented from the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In the 2022–2023 school year, “Conversations About What Matters” were introduced in schools, and the school week began with a ceremony to raise the Russian flag and sing the national anthem.
At the same time, schools began establishing primary branches of the “First Movement.” A course titled “Introduction to Modern History” was also introduced for ninth-graders, part of which was devoted to the so-called “Special Military Operation.” Starting in 2025, this course was discontinued.
In the 2023–2024 school year, an extracurricular course titled “Russia—My Horizons” was introduced for students in grades 6–11, which covered topics related to the war.
High school students received new history textbooks authored by Medinsky, and military training was reinstated in life safety classes.
Schools across Russia also established positions for directors’ advisors on education, who are responsible for implementing educational and ideological programs.
In the 2024–2025 school year, the “Life Safety” course was replaced with “Fundamentals of Security and Homeland Defense,” which included military training in its curriculum.
History and social studies teachers were advised to use the “Our Heroes” list, which included Russian military personnel who participated in the war against Ukraine. Some schools also introduced an extracurricular course titled “Motherland.”
In the 2025–2026 school year, social studies was removed from the 6th- and 7th-grade curriculum, and the freed-up class periods were allocated to history.
At the same time, students in grades 5–7 switched to a single set of state-approved history textbooks.
Thus, Russian school education continues to move toward strengthening its ideological and military-patriotic components. New subjects, textbooks, courses, and grading guidelines are increasingly being used as tools to shape the worldview desired by the Kremlin among children and adolescents.
This is reported by Russian media.
The school year in occupied Crimea is planned to be conducted under a so-called “special regime”: class periods will be shortened from 45 to 30 minutes, and the total time children spend at school will not exceed four hours.
As a reminder, the complete further isolation of the temporarily occupied Crimea, as well as the systematic deprivation of fuel and electricity for Russian troops, could force the Kremlin to come to the negotiating table or begin withdrawing its army.
Trump may not be well-versed in geography, but he should at least have a basic understanding of the fundamentals of international law.
