Since September 2022, children in Russia’s public schools are sitting through weekly classes featuring war movies. Teaching traditional patriotic values are the core of the curricula both at schools and universities. All part of the government’s plan to spread a militarized and anti-Western version of patriotism to create unwavering support from Russian society and silence any critical voices.

So how did we get here?

The European Wergeland Centre invites you to join us and Norwegian and Russian experts to discuss:

How education is used by the Kremlin regime to undermine democratic values, indoctrinate, and militarize society?

What it’s like to teach and study in an authoritarian state, where critical voices become “traitors”?

What can the democratic diaspora do to defend democratic values through education?

This event will be held in English with simultaneous translation to Russian.

 

EDUCATION IN PUTIN’S RUSSIA

PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME

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8.30 – 9.00 Registration and coffee

9.00 – 9.30 Welcome word, Ana Perona Fjeldstad, Executive Director, EWC

9:30 – 10.30 Session 1: Education as a tool to sustain an authoritarian regime

Latest developments in the education system of the Russian Federation, Valentina Papeikienė, Senior Advisor, EWC

Panel discussion:

Yurij Lapshin (Serbia), International School Le Sallay Academy, until April 2022 educator at a Moscow School

Denis Grekov (Poland), Philosopher and Political scientist, former lecturer at The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration,

Britt Marie Hovland, Assoc. Prof., VID University, Norway

Toril Iversøy (joins online), Counsellor for Science and Higher Education at The Norwegian Embassy in Moscow

Moderators: Ana Perona Fjeldstad Executive Director,

EWC, Larisa Leganger Bronder, Advisor, EWC

10.30 – 10.45 Coffee break

10.45 – 12.00 Session 2: Rebuilding democracy through education: the role and potential of democratic diaspora

Diasporas as agents of democracy: Pitfalls and prospects, Dr Erlend Paasche, Senior researcher, Institute for Social Research, Norway

Panel discussion:

Evgeniya Khoroltseva, Trainer in human rights, Human Rights Academy/Menneskerettighetsakademiet, Board member of “SmåRådina: for democracy in Russia”, democratic diaspora, Norway

Selma Bratberg, Vice-President, Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund (SAIH), Norway

Maria Ulazovskaya, Novaya Gazeta Europe, Latvia

Moderator: Valentina Papeikiene, Senior Advisor, EWC

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch and mingling