The State Duma obliged all educational institutions to raise the Russian flag

The State Duma on Tuesday adopted in the first reading inter-factional amendments to the federal constitutional law “On the State Flag of the Russian Federation”, obliging educational institutions of all levels and types of ownership to decorate their facades and territories with the Russian tricolor. Consideration of this issue gave the deputies a reason to speculate about what other ways there are to educate young people in a patriotic spirit.

Bill submitted to the State Duma on February 1 by a group of deputies from all factions and senators. In the explanatory note, the authors emphasize that the use of the state flag in the educational process “is an important element in the formation of spiritual and moral values ​​at all levels of education – from kindergarten to university.” Now only schools are required to display the Russian tricolor, while other educational organizations have this right. According to parliamentarians, “in order to strengthen the continuity and consistency in the process of educating patriotism, traditional spiritual and moral values ​​and all-Russian civic identity among students,” the Russian flag should also be hung on buildings or installed in the territories of kindergartens, colleges, institutes, universities, etc. d.

Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education Olga Kazakova (United Russia, United Russia), speaking on the bill, noted that deputies have recently systematically improved the education system in the country and, in particular, adopted laws on the “First Movement” and on federal main educational programs, which included the “Education” program. At the same time, Ms. Kazakova recalled that the European Union recently added the “First Movement” to the sanctions list: in her opinion, “this action absolutely clearly indicates that the enemy does not like everything that we do in terms of educating and strengthening our children.”

“We teach our youth to be friends and interact with each other. The enemy is doing everything the other way around,” the deputy is convinced. “Therefore, this is also a reason for us to understand that we are doing everything right.”

She added that among the authors of the bill are cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, Olympic champions Irina Rodnina and Vyacheslav Fetisov, as well as senator from the Kherson region Igor Kastyukevich, who “sees every day how people who are liberated by our military from the Nazis cry with happiness at the sight of the Russian flag.”

The deputies did not express any complaints about the idea itself, but took the opportunity to talk about patriotic education in general. Thus, Olga Alimova (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) complained that at some schools the flags “look very worn out, including due to weather conditions.” In this regard, she proposed adopting a “quality standard” for the national flag. Olga Kazakova promised to work on this issue together, recalling that even today the law on the Russian flag obliges us to treat the state symbol “with due responsibility.”

Nikolai Valuev (ER) asked about the reaction to the bill from the pedagogical community, and also noted, citing his own experience, that parents do not always agree with the practice of studying the anthem in schools.

“How are we going to not only fight this, but cope with it?” he asked. Mrs. Kazakova assured that the professional community perceived the initiative positively, in addition, today there is a flag raising ceremony in schools, and, according to surveys, 95% of parents and children have a positive attitude towards it. The performance of the anthem is now of a recommendatory nature, but the deputy said that she had already contacted the Ministry of Education with a proposal to include this ceremony in the educational federal program and “found support.”

Boris Chernyshov, speaking from the LDPR faction, called the bill “most important,” but proposed going further along the path of creating comfortable working conditions for teachers in order to motivate them to educate young people in a patriotic manner. “The LDPR faction proposed to adopt a law on the protection of the honor and dignity of teaching staff, some colleagues did not vote for this bill, and it was rejected,” Mr. Chernyshov reproached his opponents.

Mikhail Matveev (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) also recalled his initiative, which has remained motionless since the end of 2021, however, it concerns the patriotic education not of children, but of local legislators.

The communist proposed obliging the representative bodies of regions and municipalities to perform the anthem at the opening and closing of the session. “We have regions where the anthem is not performed or where the regional anthem or the republican anthem is performed,” the deputy explained.

As a result, 417 deputies voted for the bill, and one voted against (the statistics were spoiled by United Russia member Sergei Lisovsky, who probably pressed the wrong button by mistake).

Ksenia Veretennikova