Schools and preschools in Russia have been asked to limit the number of foreign students with poor Russian language skills in each class to three, in a move aimed to prevent ethnic conflict and help integration.
The Ministry of Education sent out a recommendation earlier this month stating that in order to avoid a negative effect on the education process a set ratio of foreign to Russian students was required, Izvestia reported.
The ministry documents stated that three children per class should be seen only as a target, and must not prevent the education of immigrant children.
Schools in some regions have already begun applying the recommendations, including in Krasnoyarsk Krai and Oryol Oblast.
The department acted after Lana Lantratova, Deputy Chair of the Russian Parliament’s Committee on Education, and MPs from her A Just Russia – For Truth party made a request that non-Russian speaking foreign citizen students be limited to no more than 10% of each class.
The “New Socialist” party’s request said that when the proportion of immigrant students per class exceeds one tenth it results in them socialising only within their own ethnic group, hindering education and affecting class harmony.
“The Ministry of Education supported our proposals. The introduction of these measures will facilitate the integration of immigrants into Russian society,” Ms Lantratova said.
“It will allow them to learn the basic ethical and cultural characteristics of our country, and will also prevent the emergence of aggressive ethnic cliques among students.”
Award-winning teacher Lyubov Pavlyuchenkova said the problem was tough to solve since it was impossible to deny such children an education, but that having many in a class made teaching difficult as they tended to cluster together.
Vadim Lobov, the president of private education company Synergy Corporation, said foreign students needed intensive Russian language training so as not to have a negative effect on the learning of local children.
He said that if immigrant student numbers got too high Russian parents tended to withdraw their children “which in turn increases the proportion of foreigners”.
Mr Lobov said that while he supported the limit of three such students per class, the long-term goal should be to stop admitting non-Russian speaking students altogether.
Header image: A Just Russia – For Truth MP Yana Lantratova
