Russia's education system has undergone a dramatic contraction over the past quarter-century, with the number of schools dropping by nearly half, according to a report by the Higher School of Economics published this month. The country's secondary school network shrank from 68,800 institutions in 2000 to just under 38,000 in 2026, even as the school-age population fell by only 13.5% over the same period, from 20.5 million to 17.7 million children.
The closures have been most acute in rural areas, where the number of state schools has more than halved, from over 45,000 to around 21,000. Urban schools also declined, from 22,700 to 16,300, while the average number of pupils per school rose from roughly 300 to 470. Private schools have grown from 635 to 982, but they still account for just 2.5% of all provision.
Russia now has fewer schools than Germany, despite having a population roughly half the size. Germany, with about 83 million people, operates more than 40,000 schools.
An optimisation programme with deep social costs
The closures stem from an optimisation programme launched in 2001 that remains ongoing. A shift to per-pupil funding made smaller schools financially unviable: the fewer children a school enrolled, the less state money it received. Schools were merged with neighbouring institutions or closed outright. By 2010, 26% of Russia's schools had shut; around 10,000 more closed in the 2010s, and a further 2,300 since the early 2020s.
Teachers and parents protested the mergers, arguing that large consolidated institutions were harder to manage, that neighbourhood schools with distinct characters were being lost, and that overcrowded classes would reduce educational quality. Sociologists have also linked school closures to village depopulation, according to a 2026 study published in the Russian magazine Nozh. The study found that when a village school closes, families typically split — one parent relocates to a town with the children while the other stays to work — and the separation becomes permanent.
"By saving on the costs of a single classroom and teacher, you can wipe out a whole thriving local economy," the study said.
The village of Atary in Kirov region's Lebyazhsky district is one example: after the local school was declared unprofitable, young people left, and the settlement is now largely abandoned. Communist Party MP Dmitry Novikov has called for rural schools to be funded as strategic social infrastructure rather than on a per-pupil basis, proposing a moratorium on closing upper secondary classes in villages and, where closures go ahead, guaranteed year-round transport to schools in neighbouring areas.
From consolidation to indoctrination
Since September 2022, all Russian schools have held a mandatory weekly class called "Conversations about What Matters," with lesson plans supplied directly by the Ministry of Education. Topics include Russian traditional values, Russia's global role and Moscow's war in Ukraine — referred to in official lesson materials as a "special military operation," the Kremlin's only legally allowed term minimising its all-out invasion — along with themes such as "service to the Motherland" and "self-sacrifice".
New unified history textbooks were introduced for senior pupils in 2023 and for middle-school years from 2024-2025. The 2023 unified history textbook describes Ukraine as an "aggressive anti-Russian bridgehead," presents Moscow's 2014 invasion, occupation and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea as the rectification of a "historical injustice," while Western sanctions are portrayed as an attempt to destroy Russia's economy.
Anna Wright, Amnesty International's researcher for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said that the books "hide the truth and distort the facts about serious human rights violations and crimes under international law committed by Russian troops against Ukrainians." Wright described the indoctrination of children as "a cynical attempt to eradicate Ukrainian culture, Ukrainian cultural heritage and identity."
The textbooks instruct pupils not to trust information found online. They were updated this summer: chapters on the war were expanded, and a section on the Trump-Putin Alaska meeting was added. The books were edited in part by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin, former culture minister and head of Russia's delegation in ceasefire talks with Ukraine. After he moved directly to the Kremlin as a presidential aide, he was appointed chairman of the Interdepartmental Commission on Historical Education, established in 2021 to counter what Russia terms historical "falsification". Medinsky's approach has been described as pseudo-historical rhetoric deployed to construct "loyal state ideology". He is under sanctions from the EU, the US and Canada.
The shrinking school network and the simultaneous tightening of ideological control reflect a broader pattern: while Moscow diverts resources to its war effort, it invests heavily in shaping the minds of the next generation. As Russia raises taxes on citizens and firms to fund the Ukraine war, the education system becomes another front in the Kremlin's battle for domestic legitimacy. The consequences for rural communities, already hollowed out by closures, are likely to be long-lasting.
