By Olha Chepil | 2025-09-08

Russian classrooms are trading English verbs for lessons in sacrifice.

Starting in 2026, students will spend less time learning foreign languages and more time studying "spiritual and moral values," including rules on how to serve and, if necessary, die for their country.

Analysts say the Kremlin is remaking education into an instrument of control, replacing knowledge of the outside world with loyalty to the state. The reforms, they argue, aim to raise a generation conditioned to obey rather than question.

"The country needs children who quietly listen and do what is required of them," said Svetlana Gvozdikova, a Russian native of Krasnodar. "If we need to be silent, we are silent. If we need to fight, we go fight. People who don't ask many questions."

English out, patriotism in

Starting in September 2026, Russian schools will cut foreign language lessons in grades 5–7 from three per week to two. The time will instead go to Spiritual and Moral Culture of Russia, a new compulsory course at all state-accredited schools.

"I looked at these textbooks, courses and materials. And I saw that there is a lot of imposition of certain opinions and attitudes that often contradict the concept of human rights," Oleg Kozlovsky, an Amnesty International expert on Russia, told Kontur.

The new textbook is being developed by Moscow State Pedagogical University with support from the Russian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Tikhon Shevkunov, often described as Russian President Vladimir Putin's "spiritual advisor," contributed to the project.

Kozlovsky argued the program teaches children that people exist to serve the state. He said it frames women's purpose as bearing many children, while men fulfill themselves by defending the state, even to the point of dying for its expansion.

He compared the changes to Soviet-era language education, where students memorized grammar but rarely learned to speak. The result limits children's exposure to the outside world.

"Less English means fewer chances to learn the truth and talk to the world outside of Russia," Kozlovsky noted.

In addition, the reduction in foreign language could threaten teachers' jobs. In grades 5–7, many may now have to seek other work.

Gvozdikova, who moved to Ukraine after Russia started the full-scale war, said she hopes teachers resist the shift.

"I hope many didn't like this either, and that they will replace these lessons with some sort of a classroom meeting," she said.

Now living in Odesa with her daughter while her husband fights in the Ukrainian military, she called the new course propaganda.

"These hours could have been spent on something else. Instead, children will sit and listen again about how great the country is and how bad everyone else is," she said.

Languages for the nobles

News of the cuts to English lessons has sparked outrage among Russian parents. Online posts drew dozens of comments lamenting that children are being denied a future and a chance to integrate with the world.

"To be honest, I have no words. You try to be neutral, but looking at the laws these devils issue, you adopt a different attitude toward all the foul creatures in the State Duma," wrote Reddit user ElectroAdeptus.

Parents also criticized the hypocrisy of officials whose children live and study abroad.

"The elite's children pick up foreign languages firsthand abroad, while the common folk make do with Russian -- and a few curse words," user NikIvanov posted on Fontanka's forum.

"Of course, the Kremlin's children don't study here, don't live here. They don't even give birth here. They are all abroad and speak English perfectly well," Svetlana Khanbekova, a resident of the Russian city of Astrakhan, told Kontur.

Her son Dmitry enrolled in a trade school to become a computer technician but dropped out after failing to master English. She said weak language instruction, combined with constant demands to sing the anthem and hear lectures on Russia's "greatness and strength," drained his motivation to study.

"He told me he was simply exhausted from raising the flag every morning and taking part in the circus," Khanbekova said. "In such conditions, you have to preserve what little freedom and reason you can. Let him sleep and do nothing, honestly. The depression is beyond words."

At the moment, Khanbekova studies foreign languages on her own.

"All school really taught us was how to tell English apart from other texts," she added.

Preparation for the front

Experts say the changes reflect a broader militarization of Russian schools. The Fundamentals of Life Safety program now includes weapons handling, drone operation and military field games.

"Technically, this is voluntary, but in practice teachers and children are pushed to participate," said Kozlovsky.

Although labeled optional, schools receive quotas for student participation, and teachers are expected to supervise.

"There is the Youth Army under the Ministry of Defense. There is the Movement of the First, another organization that conducts military field games. Teachers are forced to participate in all of this," said Kozlovsky.

Analysts also point to shifts in history and social science classes. Alternative views are disappearing from textbooks, and government policies -- including military actions -- are portrayed as fully justified.

"[Students] are told that if the state needs to attack, then it has the right to. The idea of human suffering and violation of international law essentially disappears," noted Kozlovsky.

Experts warn that reduced English instruction and growing militarization are fostering a generation cut off from the outside world and steeped in loyalty to the Kremlin.