Ruined schools, pressure on teachers and ban on Ukrainian: ombudsman reported educational genocide

Yana Osadcha – Thursday, 26 May 2022

Educational genocide is an element of the overal genocide committed by Russia against Ukraine.

Serhii Horbachov, the educational ombudsman, stated that numerous complaints testifying to this have been recently filed.

"Throughout Ukraine, Russian bombs, shells and missiles are destroying educational institutions, forcing children, parents and teachers to leave their homes, flee from danger, interrupting the educational process and causing severe losses of our children in the education," the ombudsman said.

Serhii Horbachov also recalled that many educational institutions in Ukraine had been destroyed.

According to the ombudsman, educational genocide in the temporarily occupied territories is manifested in a ban on speaking Ukrainian, studying Ukrainian educational programs, studying history and reading Ukrainian books.

"The aggressors are forcing employees and heads of educational institutions to start teaching children according to Russian standards and using the Russian language."

"Sometimes teachers are forced to do it literally under the barrel of machine guns," he said.

According to him, new subjects are being introduced in schools in the occupied territories, including "History of the Fatherland." During these classes students are being taught Russian propaganda.

"In some areas, the occupying forces have even extended the school year until September in order to de-Ukrainize [education - ed.] – to study Russian language, Russian literature and history to ‘prepare’ students for the new school year," Serhii Horbachov said.

The ombudsman says there have been cases when teachers had been forced to work for humanitarian aid (instead of salary -ed.).

He also stressed that there is a shortage of teachers in the occupied territories, and Russians are recruiting people without pedagogical education and experience.

Serhii Horbachov believes that teachers in the occupied territories need support at the state level to survive and not betray Ukraine.

However, he thinks that educational problems caused by the temporary occupation of Ukrainian territories may be efficiently solved only after the liberation of these territories.

The Russians extended the school year until the end of the summer to prepare schools for the Russian program in Mariupol. The invaders also want to cancel English lessons in Crimea.

Teachers are forced to conduct classes from bomb shelters and trenches in the territories controlled by Ukraine.