Russia is sending teachers to Ukraine to control what students learn
-
Loading... - abbie willow
- 18 Jul 2022
- 112 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
Russia has promised to pay hundreds of teachers big bucks to travel to occupied Ukraine and teach students there a “revised” education — about Russia’s history in Ukraine — during the upcoming school year.
For some teachers in Chuvashia, a republic about 400 miles east of Moscow, the offer seemed tempting. The average monthly salary in the region is about $550, but a potential salary posted by a school director on a Chuvash teachers’ chat group is more than $2,900 a month.
“Urgent,” said his June 17 message. “It needs teachers [Zaporizhzhia] and Kherson region for summer. 8600 rubles per day. The task is to prepare the school for the new school year. Transportation there and back – free. Accommodation and food – discussions are ongoing.”
An hour later, the director added: “Dear teacher, is there anyone who wants to help colleagues? It is safe in these areas. Please respond quickly.” Both petitions were shared with The Tanmoyworld Post by the Alliance of Teachers, an independent group in Russia.
The pay is so lucrative that one group member briefly considered responding before his administrator warned him that he would be mad to leave.
“Everyone understands everything. Nothing good will come of this trip,” said the teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Moscow is waging an intense reification effort in the occupied territories, designed to erase Ukrainians’ sense of history, ethnicity and even their language. A key strategy is to observe what children learn. Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov told a June 28 meeting of President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party that Ukraine’s education “needs to be reformed.”
Yet the Kremlin’s efforts extend beyond schools. It has already blocked Ukraine’s cellphone network and media in areas it controls, while promoting Russian state propaganda about the “denazification” of the country. It tore down Ukrainian city signs and replaced them with Russian ones. And under a decree from Putin, Moscow is trying to sign up Ukrainians across the country for Russian passports.
A referendum is planned for September on the territories “incorporated” into Russia. The Kremlin has predicted a possible vote to make Russian the official language of Ukraine.
Several weeks ago, Russia set up civil registry offices in Kherson and Melitopol, where Ukrainians can register newborns “in accordance with Russian law”, obtain Russian documents and apply for welfare payments.
Russia wants to militarize schoolchildren and censor textbooks amid war.
About 250 teachers, including 57 from the southern Russian republic of Dagestan, have signed up to go to Ukraine, according to a list on the Dagestan Ministry of Education website that is no longer visible. Their destinations include the Moscow-backed separatist regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson. The ministry has announced a huge salary increase — 8,000 rubles a day, about $137, on top of teachers’ existing teaching salaries.
In the city of Izhevsk, Georgy Grigoriev signed up because of salary. He’s not worried about the potential danger and plans to go for at least a year, “then I’ll probably stay there. I will probably buy an apartment there. I have nothing to lose.” He teaches Russian language and literature as well as chemistry and biology.
“They promise very good pay and housing,” Grigoriev explained in a phone interview. “And I thought, ‘Why not?’ I’m divorced, my kids are grown, so I might as well work there, especially for such good pay.” Read More…
