Keeping Migrant Children who Don’t Know Russian Out of Schools Counterproductive and ‘Stupid,’ Activist Says

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Dec. 17 – Keeping migrant children who don’t know Russian from attending Russian schools and learning the language is “not only amoral but stupid” and Russian nationalists should be taking the lead in the fight against Duma plans to do just that, according to Olga Nikolayenko, a leader of efforts to protect migrant children.
    Such a step, near approval in the Duma, she continues, “not only contradicts morality, international law, the Constitution of the Russian Federation” but also good sense because it throws these children on the streets and deprives Moscow of a chance to spread knowledge of the Russian language (holod.media/2024/12/17/ne-tolko-amoralno-no-i-glupo/).
    If migrant children are thrown into the streets, Nikolayenko continues, they may form gangs and will contribute to the ghettoization of the migrant communities, she continues; and when they eventually return to their homelands, they will not speak Russian and will be even more inclined to be anti-Russian than they would if they learned the language.
    If these children are allowed to attend Russian schools and thus do learn Russian, they and their parents are far more likely to integrate into Russian society as productive members, to develop more positive attitudes toward Russians, and be its ambassadors when they return to their homelands.
    Which future would any sensible Russian nationalist want? The answer is obvious, the activist says; but unfortunately, in Russia today, many people, including Russian nationalists, don’t follow their interests but their febrile emotions – and thus lead the country into ever more difficulties.