Russia under Putin lost nearly half its schools — war propaganda fills the rest

Russia's school system has shrunk by half since the turn of the century, according to a new report. The number of schools fell from 68,800 in 2000 to nearly 38,000 in 2026. Meanwhile, the number of students attending Russian schools dropped from 20.5 million to 17.7 million during the same period. This has left pupils with an average of 470 classmates per school, up from around 300 a decade ago.

The closures hit rural areas hardest, with the number of state schools plummeting from over 45,000 to just over 21,000—a more than half reduction. Urban schools have also declined, from 22,700 in 2000 to 16,300 today. Private schools have risen in number, but make up only 2.5% of the total. The closures were part of a continuous optimisation program initiated in 2001, which shifted to per-pupil funding that made small schools financially unsustainable.

As a result, many schools were merged or closed. Protestors argued that larger schools were harder to manage and that the loss of neighbourhood schools with distinct identities would harm educational quality. Sociologists have linked school closures to rural depopulation, with families often splitting when a school closes. One village, Atary in Kirov region's Lebyazhsky district, has become largely abandoned following the closure of its local school.

Russian Communist Party MP Dmitry Novikov has called for rural schools to be funded differently, arguing that closing a classroom and teacher can destroy a whole local economy. The Russian government has introduced mandatory weekly classes in schools focusing on traditional values, Russia's global role, and Moscow's war in Ukraine.

New history textbooks have been introduced, portraying Ukraine as an aggressive anti-Russian force and describing Russia's actions in Ukraine as rectifying a historical injustice. Critics have called these textbooks an attempt to indoctrinate children and erase Ukrainian culture and identity.