Mobilization proves detrimental to Russian education: “In some schools there is no one left to teach” | War Ukraine and Russia

For example, there is a school in Saint Petersburg, where 80 percent of the teachers have left or are going to leave. They or their partners have been summoned to fight in Ukraine or have fled to escape. As a result, the school may have to close.

In some schools, teachers have been handed their call while standing in front of the class. No one is spared, not even the best teachers. Miras Ishdavletov from Ufa in the Urals was awarded the title of “Honored Teacher of the Republic of Bashkortostan” on September 27. He was mobilized a day later.

Some teachers err on the side of caution and flee before they can be called. Attempts by students and parents to contact the authorities and ask for an exception so that their school does not have to close, for example, fell on cold stone for the time being.

Yuri Varlamov heads teachers’ union Uchitel and speaks of a “critical situation” in some schools. He says there is simply no one there to teach. Several subjects would have already disappeared from the curriculum. Due to the systematic overload of the remaining teachers, not many new teachers are eager to enter the profession.

Uchitel also turned to the government, but without success. “There are now no male teachers or principals in dozens of schools. Thousands of school children are left blank.”

The situation in education has thus become even worse than it was before the invasion of Ukraine. Last year, the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) spoke of a shortage of 250,000 teachers in Russian schools.