“Men in uniform watched us fill out tests”: How Russia “re-educates” Ukrainian schoolchildren in the occupied territories

Russia institutionalized the militarization of classrooms and “patriotic education” via a presidential decree that declared 2025 to be “Defender of the Fatherland Year.” In the occupied territories, 901 general education institutions are now operating under a unified federal program that was approved by Russia’s Ministry of Education earlier this year. As a result, according to estimates by the Almenda Center for Civic Education, 1.6 million Ukrainian children — 615,000 of whom already go to school — are at risk of growing up as “defenders of Russia.” The authorities in Moscow are doing this despite the fact that Article 50 of the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War prohibits an occupying power from interfering with the educational system in the territories it temporarily controls.

Like everywhere in Russia, the school week in the occupied territories begins with the raising of the Russian flag, the singing of the national anthem, and a session called “Important Conversations.” Starting in the sixth grade, students attend career guidance classes titled “Russia: My Horizons,” and since 2024, all students in grades eight through eleven have been obliged to take part in a course titled “Fatherland Security and Defense.”

The subject itself is an expanded version of the traditional Basics of Life Safety course — one enhanced with two modules of basic military training. The textbook for this discipline is still under development. However, the old curriculum has already been significantly revised: under the new program, students will be taught tactical medicine, undergo firearms and drill training, and receive instruction on UAVs and weapons of mass destruction. Half of the curriculum is dedicated to ideological conditioning: students are expected to develop an “anti-extremist and anti-terrorist stance,” understand “Russia’s role in the modern world,” “feel pride in their Motherland,” and “be ready to defend the Fatherland.”

Schools in the occupied territories are opening specialized classes affiliated with security agencies. In Melitopol’s School No. 15, the Russian National Guard has “taken patronage” over several classes. Photos on the school’s social media account show students attending classes dressed in camouflage uniforms. Their Fatherland Security and Defense teacher — a former special forces operative — aims to “prepare the boys and girls for defending our Fatherland.”