Valery Fadeyev, Chairman of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC), has raised serious concerns over the exclusion of hundreds of thousands of migrant children from Russia’s school system. His remarks were shared by the HRC’s official Telegram channel.
Fadeyev stressed that this growing issue cannot be ignored, urging authorities to find organizational solutions. He emphasized the need for early preparation of children planning to move to Russia and assistance in learning the Russian language.
“Sometimes in Russia, we wave it off — as if to say, let them live however they want. But that’s wrong. We cannot turn a blind eye. We must work together to find solutions. If parents intend to bring their children here, then preparation must begin in advance. And if that’s not possible, then we need to figure out how to teach them Russian once they arrive. These are complex organizational challenges,” he said.
He also called for the development of effective mechanisms for teaching Russian to migrant children—either in their countries of origin or, in exceptional cases, within Russia itself.
According to the Russian Ministry of Education, 179,600 foreign children were enrolled in Russian schools in 2024. However, data from the Interior Ministry as of August 2025 indicates that more than 680,000 foreign minors are currently residing in the country—of whom approximately 159,000 are listed in the national registry of monitored individuals.
A new law that came into effect on April 1, 2025, mandates Russian language testing for all migrant children as a prerequisite for school enrollment.
Yet, the implementation has proven problematic. According to the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science (Rosobrnadzor), between April and August, 23,600 foreign children submitted applications to enroll in school. Only 8,200 were permitted to take the required language test.
The majority of the remaining applicants encountered issues with documentation. Authorities reported that approximately 87% of migrant children were unable to begin schooling due to not meeting the legal requirements.
