Schoolchildren attend a ceremony to mark the start of the school year in Moscow, Russia, 1 September 2025. Photo: EPA / YURI KOCHETKOV
Less than a fifth of immigrant children living in Russia are currently able to attend school in the country, the head of the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science (Rosobrnadzor), told state-owned news agency RIA Novosti on Saturday.
Citing the introduction of a Russian language requirement and other bureaucratic obstacles for the enrolment of non-Russian pupils into schools earlier this year, Anzor Muzaev said that, at present, just 19% of school-aged migrants were currently attending school.
The 19% figure is nonetheless an improvement from September, when Rosobrnadzor announced that only 12% of migrant children had satisfied school enrolment requirements.
In December, Russia’s State Duma passed a bill making it mandatory for the children of migrants to pass a Russian language test before enrolling in school, and requiring social services to get involved if a child who fails the test does not then attend a mandatory three-month language course. Even children whose mother tongue is Russian have been known to fail the test, which was introduced in April.
The move to restrict access to education for non-Russians is just one of the policies that have been introduced as part of a crackdown on immigration following last year’s deadly terror attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall, 14 of the 15 alleged perpetrators of which came from Tajikistan.
Shortly after the attack, the Russian authorities set up a register of illegal migrants and police were granted new powers to deport migrants found to have committed even minor offences.
According to a 2017 study of eight schools conducted by Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, migrant children often end up at less prestigious or underperforming schools and are often placed in classes alongside children with learning disabilities.
