The number of Russian children educated at home has surged as parents increasingly pull students from schools amid intensified war propaganda and ideological pressure in the education system.
Nearly 100,000 children in Russia were enrolled in family-based education at the start of the current academic year, The Moscow Times reported on Thursday, Feb. 5, citing data from Russia’s Ministry of Education. In 2025 alone, 14,300 students were transferred to home education, a year-on-year increase of 16.8%, bringing the total to 99,400 children.
The number of home-schooled students sitting final exams has also grown, the outlet noted. In 2025, 20,800 such students took exams after the ninth grade, up from 17,800 the previous year, while the number of 11th-grade graduates rose from 2,900 to 3,100.
Russia has roughly 18 million schoolchildren overall, meaning those educated at home officially account for just over 0.5% of students. However, the real figure is likely higher, as the ministry’s statistics include only children formally registered with schools to take exams.
Growth linked to war, ideology
The shift toward family-based education accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic and continued steadily after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, alongside the expansion of ideological programs in schools.
Since September 2023, Russian schools have held mandatory “Conversations About What Matters” classes focused on the war in Ukraine and state narratives, often featuring talks by participants in the invasion, including former convicts and members of private military units. Authorities have described the classes as necessary to instill patriotism and loyalty to the state.
Parents have reported that children who refuse to attend the sessions are threatened with expulsion. Students have also been pressured to record video messages and collect aid for Russian troops, according to multiple accounts.
Data from the education ministry shows that in both 2023 and 2024 the number of children switching to family-based education increased by more than 15,000 each year. A separate study by the Moscow Pedagogical State University, based on open data, found that the number of home-schooled children rose tenfold between 2016 and 2023.
The trend has prompted calls from lawmakers to tighten oversight of family-based education.
In January, Ilya Volfson, a State Duma lawmaker from Tatarstan, urged Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov to make it harder for families to switch to home education and to require knowledge assessments at least twice a year. Volfson proposed that children who fail such checks be returned to schools, arguing that home-schooled students perform worse academically than their peers.