Few and fewer ninth-graders in Russia are enrolling in the upper secondary education level, but not against their will. The Russian authorities seem to be doing everything possible to direct students to technical schools. Why?
Parents of ninth-graders in many Russian regions are massively complaining that their children are not given the opportunity to continue in the higher grades and are offered to study in college (in Russia, these are educational institutions similar to Bulgarian technical schools – ed.).
In Russia, from 2023, the requirement has been introduced that the transition to the penultimate tenth grade must be through a competition with correspondingly high grades. But year after year, the required score is becoming increasingly unattainable even for good students. Moreover, according to publications in the Russian media, only 43 percent of high school students pass the tenth grade, and the rest - either forcibly or voluntarily - go to colleges.
Experts explain to DW that the tightening of the rules is related to the deliberate policy of the Russian authorities to limit the accessibility of higher education in Russia. This is related not least to the growing militarization of the Russian economy, which needs workers with secondary specialized education, not university graduates.
What parents and teachers are writing on social networks
An interior designer tells Threads that in her son's school for 4,000 high school students, only two classes have been formed in the tenth grade. "Before that, there were four. Are all the others doubles? It has long been clear that this is a system. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get into a university. There are only quota holders (children of war veterans) and Olympiad winners. It is also difficult to get into good colleges," she writes.
Another user says that despite her daughter's relatively good grades, she was not accepted into any high school in Yekaterinburg, where she lives. Places outside the rankings were given to children of war veterans.
"They are teaching children that they are not expected in the tenth grade"
A school employee in St. Petersburg confirmed on social media that the average grade has indeed increased a lot - almost to full honors. "No more than 10-12 students are allowed in a class", the woman writes, adding that some parents of ninth-graders prefer to send their children to colleges where education is not so expensive.
There are also parents who are fighting to have their children admitted to the tenth grade regardless of the exam results, looking for side roads to provide them with access to higher education institutions.
Another school employee wrote on social media that efforts are being made to prepare children for the difficult admission. "They are taught from the fifth grade that they are not expected in the tenth grade."
Cadets from the youth military-patriotic movement "Yunarmiya" (Young Army) receive berets at a ceremony to take the oath of allegiance. Photo: Sergei Malgavko/TASS/picture alliance/dpa
The Russian Prosecutor General's Office reports a number of unjustified refusals of admission due to low grades and "other fabricated reasons" in many Russian regions. The responsible employees of educational institutions have been brought to administrative responsibility.
"Through the eye of a needle" to higher education
The Russian authorities are deliberately making access to higher education as difficult as possible, sociologist Dmitry Dubrovsky told DW. According to him, state policy is also based on plans for the industrialization of the economy, especially military production. "Skills for these areas will only increase if the number of people who go to study is reduced. "A worker needs a special technical education," the expert explains.
Things depend on the social status of the family, Dubrovsky believes. Wealthy parents can pay for their children's education, and children of participants in the war against Ukraine have privileges when entering. The restrictions will affect residents of the regions, representatives of ethnic minorities and families that are weaker in social terms the most. According to the sociologist, the state creates conditions in which many parents and students themselves abandon the academic path and choose colleges.
After college - in the army
Increasing the number of colleges and their graduates may be beneficial for the Russian authorities, including from the point of view of recruiting for the army, human rights activists believe. College graduates who want to continue their studies may be called up for the army after receiving their diplomas.
For example, this is the case of Muscovite Andrei B. Two days after graduating from college, he went to the military commission in his city and declared that his health was not good. But because he could not prove this with the relevant documents, he was sent to military service.