ОСНОВНІ ТЕНДЕНЦІЇ РОСІЙСЬКОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ У СФЕРІ ШКІЛЬНОЇ ОСВІТИ НА ТИМЧАСОВО ОКУПОВАНИХ ТЕРИТОРІЯХ УКРАЇНИ В ПЕРІОД ПОВНОМАСШТАБНОЇ РОСІЙСЬКО-УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ВІЙНИ У 2022–2023 рр.

Abstract

This article is dedicated to identifying the primary trends in the Russian government's policy regarding school education in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) of Ukraine during the period of full-scale military aggression in 2022-2023. It is noted that after the occupation of part of the Ukrainian territories, the kremlin's efforts have been focused on incorporating them into the russian federation. The main task of the russian occupational authorities' educational policy in the TOT of Ukraine is to forcibly integrate Ukrainian children and youth into the "russian dimension". Proclaiming the program for the so-called "denazification of the educational system", the russian authorities have changed the language of instruction, replacing Ukrainian with russian and adjusted the curricula to align with a russian narrative. The new textbook on russian history, which is being studied by schoolchildren in the occupied regions of Ukraine from September 1, 2023, was analyzed. We observed that the section of the textbook discussing the russian-Ukrainian war repeats putin's propaganda narratives related to a full-scale invasion. Since moscow's historical policy in the occupied territories puts the victory in the Second World War at its center, aggression in Ukraine is being presented as a fight against "Ukrainian Nazism", using a narrative similar to that of the liberation mission from 1941-1945. It was found that in order to eliminate Ukrainian identity, re-education programmes were introduced to instil in Ukrainian children a "universal russian identity". An essential feature of russian policy is the militarization of the education of children and youth. Centers of paramilitary children's organizations spread significantly in TOT. Under the guise of "national and patriotic education", children are being prepared to participate in the war on the side of russia. An important direction of activity of the russian occupiers is to convince Ukrainian teachers to cooperate, arrange retraining courses, and, in the event of a lack of Ukrainian teachers, bring teachers from russia and Crimea to educate in the occupied territories. It was concluded that school education and upbringing are used by the russian authorities for anti-Ukrainian ideological processing of children and youth.