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

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/42973500

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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.”