The State Duma proposed to distribute the children of gasterbeiters to different schools

September 1 is not only a festive Day of Knowledge, but also the everyday return to school of old problems. And one of them is non-Russian-speaking children of migrants and immigrants from the CIS countries. There are classes where more than half of such children are recruited. A fresh solution was proposed in the State Duma – to disperse “non-speaking” children into different schools so that in each class there are no more than 10% of the total number of students.

Together with the idea of ​​limiting the number of “languageless” children, the deputies turned to the Minister of Education with a request “to consider urgent measures for the socialization and adaptation of children of foreign migrants.” Of which, according to their data, more than 100 thousand are studying in Russia. But because of the “uneven work flow,” children are also unevenly distributed among schools, somewhere dense (and somewhere empty). And where the density of the foreign population is high, problems are ripening.

Residents of some regions of the Russian Federation, regions of the Moscow Region and even certain parts of Moscow know firsthand about the difficulties associated with teaching children of guest workers in schools. In Lyublino/Maryino, for example, next to the Sadovod market, in Kommunarka and Prokshino (Foodcity), or in the Kaluga region in the vicinity of Vorsino, where a large number of industrial enterprises are concentrated. “When we came to enroll in grade 1, at a school near the house, the head teacher quietly said: “Run away from here, 90% of the class are newcomers, why do you need it? Moreover, you have a girl, ”says Oksana from Lyublino. – As a result, she studies in 20 minutes by car, her husband drives. It’s already an hour to get there on your own.”

However, the dispersal of migrant children in different schools will create difficulties: “We will have to send children to more distant educational institutions,” says Yana Lantratova, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education. But this, according to the parliamentarian, will just push “labor migrants to deeper integration into Russian society, in the long term with obtaining citizenship.”

It cannot be said that the problem of educating the children of migrants has not been addressed before. Some see the creation of separate classes or even special schools for children who do not speak Russian as a solution. Last year, a similar class under the letter “Zh” at school No. 33 of Volgograd appeared in the Airport area. Even earlier, in 2018, the same class was opened in Yekaterinburg at school No. 59. The director’s initiative was to create an adaptive language environment, and much attention was paid to the prevention of bullying. But if there are few non-speaking children in the class, this is excellent ground for xenophobia.

The governor of the Kaluga region Shapsha announced his readiness to open such adaptive classes in the region. But so far, no real classes have been heard even in the Obninsk-Balobanovo region, where there are the most guest workers (more than a quarter of the population). The reason language classes or courses don’t catch on is economic. Teachers need to be paid extra or take a new staff unit, and not just anyone, but trained personnel. In the context of a falling economy, neither the regions nor the schools themselves have the funds for this.

There are no adaptation textbooks and programs yet. But the Ministry of Education has already created an order dedicated to solving problems with migrant children in schools. It is assumed that when a child is admitted to school, he will pass a test, and if he finds poor command of Russian, he will go to language courses. If the order is accepted, then the schools will have the right to include courses, disciplines (modules) in the curriculum of the general education program, as well as to implement additional education programs for the study of the Russian language. The document emphasizes that the changes are being made “in order to meet the educational needs and interests of students who have little or no command of the Russian language.”

– The main thing I would like to say is that among those who come here from Central Asia and the CIS, there are many who receive a residence permit or citizenship, – social psychologist Valery Raushinsky comments. “These are highly motivated citizens, it is normal for an emigrant to be more of a citizen than the native population. And the children of such parents are a valuable resource for society. Having received an education, they will be able to become teachers, doctors, law enforcement officers here, to a certain extent closing the gap in socially significant niches. Separately, I would like to say about the thousands of children of school-age migrant workers who just do not study, but live in Russia. Especially a lot of such young people became after the pandemic, many could not afford telecommuting. This is the real threat, greater than the “non-speaking” classes.

Somewhat strange is the opinion of Valery Fadeev, head of the presidential HRC, who called for changing the law, according to which schools are required to admit “every child” to school. From a philistine point of view, an explanation can be found in situations where, somewhere in the center of St. Petersburg, local children cannot get into a lyceum, where guest workers’ children have already been enrolled only because their numerous brothers and sisters are already studying there. And the teachers’ lamentations that a few “such” people are dragging the whole class back (along with academic performance).

“But no one has repealed international humanitarian law,” objected lawyer Stanislav Popov. – The 1960 UNESCO Convention, which guarantees absolutely all children, wherever they are, to receive primary school education (enshrined for citizens in the Constitution of the Russian Federation). Separately, I would like to mention the 1990 Convention for the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (entered into force in 2003). It has not been ratified in Russia, but in principle it is a universal right attached to UN documents by default. I think that the sensational check of the standard of living of migrants from Tajikistan in Russia can be based on this norm.

Of course, a migrant is different for a migrant. There are those who want to assimilate and there are those who come only to earn money. “I want to build a house in my homeland, so far I have just bought land,” says Aliya and admits that she does not like Moscow. However, there may soon be no purely labor migration at all due to the weakening of the ruble, which makes it unprofitable to travel to Russia. There are problems in settlements where the visiting public is trying to establish their own rules. There are difficulties tied to the difference of religions, and, therefore, the mentality. Most of the complaints in areas densely populated by foreigners from Asia are related to the harassment of girls of varying severity, sometimes of school age. Still, the main problem for learning is the Russian language. If the student does not speak Russian, he himself cannot study normally, and pulls back the class, because the teacher has to slow down and be distracted every now and then. “By and large, there is no difference whether you have three migrant students in your class or ten,” teachers comment.

– If we talk about programs, there is no need to reinvent the wheel, – considers Antonina Gordeeva, teacher of FVE, methodologist. — There are ready-made programs for bilingual children. There are those that were used in Russian schools in the same Central Asia 30-40 years ago. There are language training programs for speech pathologists designed for children with various dyslalia and dysgraphia. After all, they also learn Russian, especially written, according to the methods of teaching a foreign language. All this can be studied and implemented in schools. I believe that socialization is absolutely necessary, and children are more likely to assimilate if they study together. But it all needs to be well thought out and correctly implemented. And adequate funding.