Putin wants children in Russian schools to learn more about patriotism and the food chain. "So that they understand what kind of world we live in. And why we are conducting a special military operation." What does the new curriculum in Russia contain?
On September 1, all Russian schools will start the day with a lesson on the topic of "Conversations about what is important". The Ministry of Education recommended inviting "veterans of the war in Ukraine" to the celebrations, and then a video address by Vladimir Putin is traditionally broadcast to all students from the 1st to the 11th grade.
The official script for the first day of school for all grades includes a story about the "Movement of the Firsts", which Putin supports, as well as other state youth projects. The experiment with introducing behavioral assessments continues in Russian schools, with collective patriotic activity forming an essential part of their formation.
Patriotic education is now mandatory
If previously ideological influence in schools was carried out mainly through extracurricular activities, then in the new school year (2026/2027), which is dedicated to the theme "Unity of the Peoples of Russia", patriotic content is increasingly being transferred from extracurricular work to mandatory subjects. In official terminology, this is called "worldview" and "spiritual-moral" education. It is based on a list of traditional values, which was approved in Decree No. 809 of Vladimir Putin; from there, the list was transferred to the state educational standards of Russia, and through them - directly into the content of all textbooks.
In the new year, fifth-graders will begin studying the subject "Spiritual and Moral Culture of Russia" ("DNA of Russia"), which includes the state list of heroes - in addition to real or fictional historical figures, it includes Orthodox saints, but also participants in the war against Ukraine.
In addition, the transition to unified history textbooks will be finally implemented; the federal list includes, for example, textbooks such as "History of Our Land. Donbass and Novorossiya". In them, the history of the regions of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation is presented entirely in the context of the Russian state. And students in the upper grades will also switch to a new social studies program, the content of which is entirely based on the aforementioned decree No. 809 of Vladimir Putin.
The Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation directly declares that the renewed social studies subject is "related to the worldview". In addition, it has prepared a project for the reform of the subject "Fundamentals of the Security and Defense of the Motherland" - the number of hours allocated for initial military training is also increasing. Among the topics in the curriculum, in addition to preparation for military service, are "Fundamentals of National Security".
The school as a conduit of something like a state ideology
Against this background, discussions are intensifying about whether it is possible to save children from ideological manipulations, how strong the influence of the school on each child is, whether the Soviet experience of survival through the system of double thinking (one for the government and the other for personal use) can be useful, and what the later social effect will be on a historical scale.
At first glance, we might think that Russia has a state ideology, and the school is its main conduit through the educational infrastructure, rituals, and unified historical narrative. But the value-ideological doctrine that is instilled in schools, universities, and propaganda media does not possess the systematicity of a true state ideology.
There is no single canon, no common vision of the future that the state is striving for, nor an official supreme interpreter - this role is claimed not only by the church, but also by the presidential administration, as well as competing pro-government groups.
"Traditional values" from the university textbook "Fundamentals of Russian Statehood" or reflected in the pantheon of heroes for "the DNA of Russia" listed in Putin's decree, are empty words, pure mimicry, which suggest only one thing - loyalty. It doesn't matter what a person believes in or thinks - all that matters is how much they demonstrate their belonging and loyalty to the state, their willingness to be a cog in the machine.
Putin's fake about killer whales and polar bears
At a meeting with teachers before the start of the school year, Vladimir Putin demonstrated his expectations from the work on forming a worldview in schools: there he stated that killer whales in the North eat polar bears "like small fish". Therefore, according to him, children should be told about the food chain. "So that they understand what kind of world we live in. And why we are conducting a special military operation."
There is no confirmation of the example given by Putin. But the important thing in it is actually something else. The Russian president affirms the right of the strong to use violence, the strong who devours the weaker - these are the true Russian traditional values - archaic and deeply rooted. It is these that the Russian state is guided by and demands the same from students as future soldiers. But can this even be called a state ideology?