Deputies promote “family science” in schools: change attitudes towards “trial marriages” and abortions

“The number of tenth graders who plan to have many children has doubled”

In the State Duma on April 18, a discussion began on the introduction of family studies lessons into the school curriculum. In a number of regions this subject is already taught, but deputies want to introduce it everywhere. Judging by the feedback from the “pilot” sites, which were presented at the “round table”, the authorities place great hopes on “Family Studies” in improving demographics.

This is not the first time the State Duma has discussed the issue of introducing “Family Studies” into the school curriculum. Earlier, on March 24, Nina Ostanina, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, said that the Ministry of Education was instructed to “organize the teaching of this subject in all educational organizations.” “Such experience already exists in the regions – Tatarstan, the Arkhangelsk region,” Ostanina said, emphasizing that “we have been moving towards this for a long time.”

This time, the “round table” presented a sample of the existing textbook “The Moral Foundations of Family Life”, which has been used by schools in 15 regions since 2017 (15 “pilot sites”, each with 20 schools).

It is assumed that the course should consist of 34 hours, that is, it is 1 hour per week, or, “whoever has the opportunity, it can be 60 hours”, noted at the “round table”. It is organized as part of extracurricular activities.

The course coordinator Inga Korolkova, who is also a member of the International Scientific and Expert Council on Spiritual and Moral Security, who spoke at the round table, noted that, judging by the feedback received from schools where this subject is taught, “the course works best at 10 class”: students’ attitudes to “trial marriages” and abortions are changing. The expert also said that there would be no problems with teachers, for this we have advanced training institutes for teachers. As for financial support, the regions will need 2-5 million rubles to purchase such a textbook.

The meaning of the course, according to Inga Korolkova, is “to penetrate the heart of every student.”

The curator of the course, Maria Matantseva, spoke about the truly magical effect of this course on the children. Not otherwise than found a panacea for solving the demographic problem in the country. First of all, she noted that after testing the course, teachers expressed admiration for it and said: “If I had known all this 20 years ago, I would have lived a different life!” If the allowance for adult teachers already operates this way, then what can we say about students? The results of the testing, according to Matantseva, were fantastic. The first result: “The number of children who do not want to start a family at all has halved (from 8% to 4% of the respondents),” she noted. Second, the number of schoolchildren “allowing a trial marriage” fell three times after the course, from 60% to 20%. And thirdly, the number of tenth-graders who wanted to have many children has doubled. The children, according to the speaker, asked: “Why did you introduce this course to us so late?!”

However, while the deputies have a long work to do. The regions must submit an analysis of the work of their schools on this course, all received data will be studied by the Ministry of Education. Then the deputies will consider “the entire range of available benefits for family studies”, after which “proposals for legislative regulation” should be prepared that determine the financial support for this issue.

Meanwhile, social networks and parental publics are in full swing with discussions. Parents complain that if it is an elective after school, then “no one will go: schoolchildren have circles, electives, preparation for exams.” “Adolescents already have 7-8 lessons, they no longer have the strength to take an additional elective, so it’s not promising to do “Family Studies” after school!”