Ukrainian schoolchildren and teachers deported to Russia by Russian troops forced to adopt Russian curriculum

Mykhailo Zahorodniy – Sunday, 17 April 2022

Ukrainian school teachers and schoolchildren who had been forcibly deported by Russian troops to the territory of the Russian Federation or to the Russian-occupied Crimea are undergoing a Russian "reeducation."

According to Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, the self-proclaimed occupation government of Crimea set up "reeducation camps" for education professionals.

In the camps, teachers from the Kherson, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia regions are forced to learn and adhere to the "Russian educational standards."

Forced "russification" policy also applies to the kidnapped Ukrainian children, who are forced to attend Russian "language courses."

Centre for Countering Disinformation said that "Liliya Gumerova, Chairwoman of the Committee on Science, Education and Culture, announced this during a meeting of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.

Children will be forced to learn Russian there [in the camps] since, according to the occupiers, children from Ukraine do not know the language well enough."

Russia planned to resume schooling in Ukraine’s occupied territories without teaching Ukrainian language and literature or the history of Ukraine.

Serhiy Horbachov, ombudsman for education, said that teaching in accordance with the Russian educational programs was an example of collaborationism, and that school teachers who will teach the Russian programs will be held accountable.