The number of first-graders in Russian schools has decreased. One of the reasons is the children of migrants who were unable to pass the Russian language test
This year Russian schools accepted about one and a half million first-graders. That's 300 lessthan last year.
Among the reasons that influenced the decline in the number of first-graders is the new law of the State Duma, according to which is prohibited admit children of migrants who have failed the Russian language test to schools.
It is not specified how many first-graders were unable to attend Russian schools because of this law. NotMoscow We managed to find statistics for some regions.
For example, in Yekaterinburg Russian language proficiency test failed 26,5% of migrant children (113 out of 426) were enrolled in the first grade. At the same time, in School No. 149, which has had the highest percentage of migrant children in recent years, enrolled only 64 children (last year there were 109 - 41% more).
В Kaliningrad region 38% of migrant children failed the Russian language test (42 children out of 110), Tyumen Oblast — 41% (35 children out of 85), in Novosibirsk region — 48% (50 children out of 106), in St. Petersburg — 50% (257 out of 514 children, another 400 children did not show up to take the test).
Anti-migrant policies in Russia have intensified since the outbreak of the war with Ukraine: mass raids are being carried out across the country in search of foreigners, new restrictive laws are being introduced, and high-ranking officials regularly make harsh statements against migrants, accusing them of increasing crime and creating "ethnic enclaves." Last week, for example, a State Duma deputy Mikhail Romanov saidthat migrant children in schools are "an additional burden for the teacher" and "a drag on the entire class." Earlier, the deputy Leonid Slutsky proposed Make tuition fees available for children of migrants studying in high school.
To teachers before the start of the new school year issued guidelines for identifying children of migrants prone to committing crimes.
The director of one of the Tyumen schools expressed There is a concern that children of migrants who are unable to enroll in school due to their lack of knowledge of Russian may be left without supervision and could lead to an increase in street crime.
And the chapter Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov called the mandatory Russian language test "stupid."
"Is it the child's fault that he doesn't know Russian? He'll learn it in three or four months. No big deal." сказал He also emphasized that the republic would not be able to cope without foreign workers.