No heat, collapsing roofs, and buckets for toilets: While Russia spends billions on the war in Ukraine, its schools are literally falling apart
No heat, collapsing roofs, and buckets for toilets: While Russia spends billions on the war in Ukraine, its schools are literally falling apart
No heat, collapsing roofs, and buckets for toilets While Russia spends billions on the war in Ukraine, its schools are literally falling apart — Meduza
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According to the data journalism project To Be Exact, almost one quarter of schools in Russia were in need of major structural repairs in 2024. Most of these schools were in the Murmansk (77 percent), Kirov (69 percent), Karelia (65 percent), and Kabardino-Balkaria (64 percent) regions.
Nor did all schools have basic amenities. At a school in the Karelian village of Voloma, the bathroom didn’t have running water for a year, forcing students to use a bucket instead. The school’s principal defended the situation to a local activist, arguing that “the first graders were more used to” a bucket than a toilet.
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More than half the schools in the Tuva Republic and 41 percent of schools in Dagestan and the Sakha Republic were without sewage infrastructure. These same regions also topped the list for the highest percentage of schools without running water, according to To Be Precise.
Additionally, in the Tuva Republic, 68 percent of schools had no central heating. The figures were also high in Kalmykia (35 percent) and Ingushetia (31 percent).
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The school in the Novosibirsk region that collapsed earlier this month was first opened in 1937. In the 1990s, there were plans to build a new facility, but construction was never completed. Authorities finally revisited the idea in 2023, but progress has been slow due to high groundwater levels. After the old building’s collapse, officials promised to complete construction of the new school in time for the 2026–2027 school year.
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Some parents said they had complained to the principal about the building’s condition, but received no response.
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A teacher who served as principal of a different school in the Novosibirsk region until 2018 [said] that school directors who push for building repairs can face serious repercussions. According to him, the commission that conducts building inspections before each academic year often overlooks issues and pressures the principal to sign off on their reports.
The teacher said inspectors typically suggest either conducting a follow-up assessment or postponing the repairs until the next school break, and school administrators often agree to these terms. But if a principal refuses to sign the report and insists on getting repairs done before the school year starts, they’re told: “Just sign it. If you don’t, we’ll find someone else who will.”
No heat, collapsing roofs, and buckets for toilets: While Russia spends billions on the war in Ukraine, its schools are literally falling apart
Priorities. Some people have them. Russia doesn't.
Russia have priorities, they just not like most other countries
The priority is that it is much easier to be a dictator when your population is uneducated.
I mean this is clearly to be expected. The russian people have suffered many times from rulers that only understand their people as resources.
We should be looking at this and do the opposite: Invest in schools, education, infrastructure and culture. Those however are the very things we save money first and i am unsure how other countries are faring but in germany we were told we need to save money. Years after years. Now all of a sudden we have hundreds of billions for weapons again.
Like i get it, we prepare for war but i sure don't have to cheer it on. And to be honest, reading about russia every day does only increase the dread.
I asked my self yesterday: At what economical price would come peace in ukrain with designing something that lets them keep their right to self determination. I have no idea but sending them weapons seems to be the economical answer we found.