Parents in Russian-occupied territories who continue their children's education in the Ukrainian language face the risk of having their kids taken away and given up for adoption in Russia or sent to "reeducation" schools that teach in Russian, Amnesty International says.
In a study titled Ukraine: Children’s Education Is One More Casualty Of Russian Aggression, which was published on December 11, Amnesty says that besides the tragic loss of life and widespread destruction resulting from Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the systemic violations of the right of children to an education are an additional consequence Ukrainians have faced.
Russian forces still occupy some 20 percent of Ukraine's territory, and despite the risks of reprisals, some parents who live under Moscow's occupation have resorted to schooling their children "in hiding" under the Ukrainian curriculum.
“Amnesty International has obtained evidence from 23 education workers and 16 families with school-age children who were, or still are, living under Russian occupation, and documented how Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has led to significant and widespread interruptions of education in Ukraine," Amnesty regional researcher Anna Wright said about the study.
"In the Russian-occupied territories, intimidation and coercion are a daily reality for families, children, and teaching staff. No one is safe under Russia’s endless campaign of terror in Ukraine” Wright said.
The study quotes a Ukrainian education official as saying that children, parents, and teachers have become “partisans digging holes in their gardens to hide laptops and mobile phones or hiding in the attics and old sheds to catch the mobile [phone] signal.”
Those interviewed told Amnesty that Russian troops regularly patrol the streets and often conduct random searches, and those found in possession of teaching materials in Ukrainian or electronic devices that can be used for online learning risk being detained and having their children taken away.
Some parents, like a mother of two whose real name was changed to "Polina" for fear of reprisals, have chosen to stop their children's education altogether. Polina's children had been outside of their house only a few times during the first nine months of Russian occupation for fear of them being abducted and taken to Russia, she said.
Another mother, from an occupied village in the occupied Kherson region, told Amnesty that Russian troops came and told her that unless she sends her 15-year-old son to school the next day, he will be taken "to an orphanage in Russia." When the boy returned to school, he found it redecorated with Russian symbols and guarded by Russian soldiers.
Teachers who refuse to return to teach in schools in Russian-occupied areas are either going into hiding or fleeing.
A teacher from occupied Berdyansk in the Zaporizhzhya region told Amnesty that children are forced to study in Russian and sing the Russian national anthem under the threat of being sent away for “re-education in Russian orphanages.” The teacher left and now gives online lessons to children from occupied territories from somewhere else in free Ukraine.
Some parents have enrolled their children in secret online learning courses despite the risks of being caught and facing grave consequences.
A father from Berdyansk told Amnesty that, in order to allow his son to study in a Ukrainian school online in the afternoons, he goes on a watch outside while his wife stands by the window. If he gives her a signal that someone is approaching the house, the mother and the son will erase any evidence of online learning and hide the laptop.
“The only way to help Ukraine heal and to make Ukrainian children’s present and future less painful, is for Russia to end the war in Ukraine, which is an act of aggression under international law,” said Wright.
“During war or occupation, all parties remain bound by international humanitarian and human rights law. Ensuring children’s right to access to quality education is one such duty, and it must be fully respected,” she said.