Another right denied A new Russian law bans migrant children from school if they don’t know the language — but offers no way for them to learn it
On December 11, the Russian State Duma voted to require children of migrants to pass a Russian language proficiency test before being allowed to enroll in school. The new policy, which will come into effect in April 2025, could deprive up to one percent of the country’s schoolchildren of their right to an education, according to calculations from journalists at iStories. Meduza shares a translation of the outlet’s report on what consequences the new law could have.
In early November, during a meeting of the Presidential Council on the Russian Language, Vladimir Putin called for the creation of a “unified federal procedure for working with children of migrants who do not speak or have a poor command of the Russian language.”
The idea may sound positive in theory, but the policy Russian lawmakers created in response to the president’s demand will likely strip many migrant children of their right to education. Nevertheless, onDecember 11, the State Duma unanimously passed a law barring schools from admitting migrant children who aren’t proficient in Russian. “Individuals who fail to pass a test demonstrating sufficient knowledge of the Russian language to pursue primary, basic, or secondary general education will not be allowed to enroll in these educational programs,” states the legislation, which is set to take effect on April 20, 2025.
Nina Ostanina, who heads the State Duma’s Family Protection Committee, noted to journalists that “the word ‘ban’ is not in the law,” explaining that the measures are meant to “ensure that our children study in schools where everyone speaks, writes, and reads in our native, official Russian language.”
However, experts view the policy differently. “I see this law as restrictive and do not support it. It creates barriers to children’s social adaptation, access to education, and their future successful integration,” said Irina Abankina, director of the Educational Development Institute at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics.
According to Abankina, the new language test requirement is discriminatory and will marginalize those excluded from schools. “Any measures that exclude children from education in today’s world are counterproductive,” she said.
Amnesty International’s Russia Director, Natalia Zviagina, issued an even stronger statement in response to the law’s passage: “This bill not only blatantly violates international law, which Russia is bound by, but also the country’s own Constitution, which prohibits discrimination and guarantees everyone the right to free school education.”
How many Russian schoolchildren have migrant parents?
The exact number of migrant children in Russia is unknown. However, in the past three years, the Education Ministry has gathered data on students who are foreign nationals or stateless. In 2023, there were 178,000 such children in Russian schools — accounting for about one percent of all students. If this proportion holds today, about one in every hundred children entering Russian schools risks having their right to education violated.
Most migrant children are in lower grades, while only 11 percent are in grades nine through 11. The largest concentrations of children without Russian citizenship are in the Moscow region, where they make up 3.3 percent of all students, followed by Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Kaluga and Leningrad regions, where they comprise two to three percent. In 65 Russian regions, the share of migrant children does not exceed one percent.
In practice, migrant children tend to be concentrated in specific schools, which are often lower-performing institutions. Stronger schools are typically unwilling to accept these students. As a result, schools already grappling with underperforming students and disadvantaged local families must also accommodate children who may struggle with Russian.
Language proficiency is the primary challenge in educating these children, according to teachers and administrators. Children who speak Russian fluently typically adapt well in Russian schools. However, when a class includes even three to five students with limited or no Russian skills, teaching becomes more difficult, and the learning process slows down.
What support is in place to help migrant children learn Russian?
According to one expert on integrating children who speak Russian as a second language, there are two key factors working in favor of migrants’ children’s integration.
The first is that Russia shares a Soviet past with many of the countries migrants come from, which provides historical ties that aid in the adaptation process. Migrants often choose Russia as their destination due to these shared connections. The second is that Russia generally does not have segregated migrant ghettos, with immigrants often settling evenly across neighborhoods, which also helps with integration.
However, the advantages end there, the expert said.
Schools bear the greatest social responsibility for integrating migrant children. While other government agencies and institutions mostly just handle paperwork, schools are tasked with socializing children, educating them, and helping them adapt to daily life. But teachers often lack the necessary tools to do this effectively.
Migration and discrimination in Putin’s Russia
“Everyone talks about multiculturalism and diversity. If you ask regional education ministries about migrant children’s integration, they’ll list a variety of programs. But if you talk to teachers, they’ll tell you none of it reaches them — or if it does, it’s just a few lessons a year about how tolerance is important,” an expert in multicultural education and migrant integration told iStories.
Some regions are more proactive in establishing systems to help migrant children adapt and learn Russian. But there’s no cohesive system in place at the federal level. Professional development courses for teachers seeking to better teach Russian as a foreign language (RFL) are almost nonexistent, as are dedicated RFL instructors.
When non-native speakers enroll in Russian schools, they’re often placed in classes several grades below their age group. This is to provide them with extra time to learn Russian in an immersive environment. However, this approach has proven largely ineffective and creates additional problems, as it isolates children from their peers.
“Many teachers genuinely want to help these children, but they simply don’t know how to work with kids from migrant backgrounds who don’t speak Russian. They lack effective teaching methods, textbooks, and systemic support for language instruction and adaptation. Any frustration or aggression they show is often a human reaction to exhaustion and feeling completely unprepared,” the expert explained.
Sign up for Meduza’s daily newsletter
A digest of Russia’s investigative reports and news analysis. If it matters, we summarize it.
School psychologists play a crucial role in helping these children adapt, but Russia faces a severe shortage here, as well. On average, there is one school psychologist for every 580 students, while in some regions, there’s less than one for every 1,000. Although the number of psychologists is increasing, this is happening very slowly: over the past seven years, the average number of students per psychologist has only decreased from 638 to 580.
In 2023, the Russian Education Ministry proposed limiting the number of students per school psychologist to 300, but the Economic Development Ministry rejected the regulation, arguing it would lead to “unjustified expenses.”
“If a school has just one psychologist for 500 students, it’s as good as having no psychologist at all. And when a major percentage of these children come from different cultural backgrounds with unique family habits and values, the absence of a psychologist becomes critical. Moreover, psychologists need specialized training to work with multicultural classrooms,” the expert added.
What challenges could this law cause?
There are no free Russian language courses for foreigners in Russia, making schools the only viable way for migrant children to learn the language and integrate into society. A ban on education for children who don’t already speak Russian will result in a large number of these children being excluded from schools, further denying them opportunities to socialize.
“When children don’t go to school, they’re left to fend for themselves, and anything can happen. These children may become involved with dangerous groups because they’ve been deprived of access to regular school socialization. The longer a child is idle, the harder it is to reintegrate them into the education system and social interactions with peers,” an integration expert told iStories.
In the long term, these children are at risk of marginalization. They can’t return to their home countries, where they have no connections, and they can’t integrate into Russian society without language proficiency and access to education, which is crucial for securing a good job.
During the law’s discussion period, some lawmakers suggested that migrant parents should bear the cost of their children’s Russian lessons and school preparation. However, there are simply not enough teachers available in the regions who can teach Russian as a foreign language to schoolchildren. Even if parents are financially able and willing to pay, they’re unlikely to find teachers for their children.
“No one in the State Duma has asked where these children will go if they don’t pass the test. It’s logical to think about where they will learn Russian. [Education Minister Sergey] Kravtsov promises to create integration centers at teacher training universities, but not every city with a migrant population has such universities. And even if these centers are created in the next few years, where will they find enough specialists to teach?” one expert asked.
Complicating the situation further is the fact that a child’s citizenship status does not determine their knowledge of Russian. Some children in Russia are Russian citizens but don’t speak Russian well enough to pass the new language test. These include children from Russia’s ethnic republics with official languages other than Russian, as well as children from migrant backgrounds who have naturalized citizenship or were even born in Russia but aren’t proficient in the language.
At the same time, having foreign citizenship does not necessarily mean a child cannot speak Russian. According to a 2024 nationwide survey, only 18 percent of migrant students completely lack or struggle with the language, and 23 percent face learning difficulties. As a result, some children who don’t speak the language will have the right to attend school, while others won’t. Meanwhile, the problems associated with these children’s integration and ability to learn Russian will remain unsolved.
Sign up for The Beet
Underreported stories. Fresh perspectives. From Budapest to Bishkek.