Russia: School enrolment of migrant children becoming increasingly difficult
School enrolment of migrant children becoming increasingly difficult
11.11.2024
Article published on the ASI website
The timeframe for reviewing documentation for enrolling children into schools has increased significantly.
This issue has been raised by specialist CSOs that deal with the adaptation of migrants and their children who come to Russia from different countries.
For example, Anna Orlova, who runs the Migratory Children programme, has said that schools have failed to admit 270 children from Tajikistan this academic year, 150 of whom were not able to enrol in first grade. Sofia Ismailova, who is in charge of the Access to Education project at the Civil Assistance Committee (included on the Federation’s foreign agents’ register), also said that migrant workers had lodged 25 complaints about significantly extended enrolment timeframes, compared to ten that were submitted last year.
Ismailova added that decisions on enrolment applications would normally be taken within five working days. However, all this changed during the summer. For example, Abdibaasyt Saidov, a Kyrgyzstan citizen, applied in July to enrol his son in first grade. Four weeks later, he received a response, stating that he would have to wait another month for a decision.
“As I understand it, an inter-departmental evaluation is carried out by the Federation’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, which checks the migrant’s registration, legality of the parents’ stay etc. If invalid, the application would be cancelled or rejected, but the process would never take this long, not a month”, said Saidov.
Moscow City Duma deputy Andrey Medvedev said that the capital’s schools are open to all children by law, with the resources of the relevant educational body taken into account. However, in view of the increasing demand for school places, priority is currently being given to Muscovites.
According to Nina Ostanina, Chair of the State Duma Committee on Family Protection, Paternity, Maternity and Childhood, children of Russian citizens are also experiencing difficulties with school enrolment at the moment.
