Monitoring report “Universal Soldier” for September 2022
Education continues to be used as a tool of propaganda, as a tool for the destruction of Ukrainian identity and the militarization of children and youth in the occupied territories.
With the beginning of the school year, children in the occupied territories have a significant influence on consciousness through formal education.
- Before the start of lessons in schools, the Russian national anthem must be played and the Russian flag must be raised.
- Mandatory lessons of «Conversations about important things» were introduced, aimed at raising a Russian patriot and designed to present children with a distorted version of history.
- On the territory of the occupied Crimea, children from kindergarten age are involved in such events as military and patriotic games. For example, on September 20, the team of Kindergarten No. 88 took part in the final of the military-patriotic game «Rubezh» in Sevastopol.
In order to strengthen control over education and to effectively use it as a propaganda tool, the Russian Federation plans to introduce uniform general education programs in schools. On September 12, the State Duma Committee on Education supported the draft law on the introduction of unified programs.
In the occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, educational institutions are being integrated into the Russian education system. In the same way, the lessons of «Conversations about important things» are introduced in schools, the Russian flag is raised and the Russian national anthem is played, teaching takes place in the Russian language according to Russian textbooks and methodical recommendations.The occupation authorities plan to send kindergarten teachers to so-called «retraining» to improve the transition of all educational institutions to Russian standards.
Collectively, all these actions of the occupation authorities are aimed at
- destroying the Ukrainian identity of children in the occupied territories;
- forming a loyal attitude towards the military actions unleashed by Russia on the territory of Ukraine;
- motivating children from the occupied territories to voluntarily join the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
Read more about all this in the full text of the report for September.
The monitoring was prepared by the Center of Civic Education “Almenda” within the framework of the project “Chronicles of the Ruined Childhood”. The project is implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic as part of the Transition Promotion Program. The views expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.
