Russia’s schools are introducing a grade for behavior — obedience and ideological conformity included

Beginning in 2026, Russian schoolchildren will be graded not only on their academic performance but also on their behavior. Officials say the new system is meant to reinforce discipline. But in conversations with the outlet Takie Dela, education experts warn that it revives a Soviet-era tool of control — one that could punish dissent, enforce ideological conformity, and make obedience a formal requirement of education. Meduza shares a summary of Takie Dela’s reporting.

In mid-January, Russia’s Education Ministry announced that schools will begin issuing mandatory behavior grades starting September 1, 2026. The grades will apply to all students, from first grade through the end of high school.

According to the ministry, behavior will be assessed using a broad set of criteria: discipline, social interaction, personal qualities, and classroom engagement. Officials say the measure is meant to help enforce internal school rules, maintain order during lessons, and ensure compliance with accepted norms of conduct. Among other things, children will be graded on participation in school activities, involvement in so-called “socially useful labor,” and obedience to teachers’ instructions.

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The idea of bringing back behavior grades surfaced publicly in December 2024, during a meeting of Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council. At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged officials to “at least discuss” the proposal, adding that such grades should “have some real impact.”

Deputy Education Minister Olga Koludarova framed the reform as not only a matter of discipline but also of the “development of students’ personalities.” Behavior grades, she said, are intended to strengthen the school’s “educational role,” instill respect for “traditional values,” and protect the “honor and dignity of the teacher.”

Back to the USSR

Behavior grades have a long history in Russia. They were first introduced in Soviet schools in 1944, using a five-point scale, and later revised in 1970 to a three-tier system: “exemplary,” “satisfactory,” and “unsatisfactory.”

Despite their seemingly symbolic nature, the consequences were serious. Students who received an unsatisfactory behavior grade at the end of the year were barred from final exams and denied a diploma, receiving only a certificate confirming they had attended classes. The system was abolished in March 1989.

To critics, the current proposal represents a clear revival of Soviet-era disciplinary control. Education specialist Mikhail Pavlovets describes it as a rollback rooted in the same logic that once turned schools into tools of ideological enforcement.

He argues that behavior grading emerged not only from the ideocratic nature of the Soviet state, where education served as an instrument of discipline and indoctrination, but also from structural failures such as overcrowded classrooms and poor teacher training.

Today, Pavlovets warns, the consequences may be even broader. He believes behavior grades will be folded into a gradually emerging system of social scoring, akin to China’s social credit model — one that tracks a citizen’s “trustworthiness” from childhood.

“Repressive methods like this,” he says, “are an admission of the powerlessness of both the education system and the state to address accumulated problems — and of the absence of any other tools.”

That concern is echoed by educator Dima Zitser, who sees behavior grades as a mechanism for subjugation and, often, humiliation.

Under the new system, Zitser argues, students will be expected to comply not only academically but ideologically. If a teacher assigns students to weave camouflage nets, they must comply. If they are told that the state matters more than the individual, or that Russia is encircled by enemies, they must repeat it. If a class on “family studies” teaches that love is acceptable only in the way defined by Putin and senior officials, disagreement won’t be tolerated.