The Belarusian education system has become even more ideologized, militarized, and dependent on Russia. The main trends of the first months of the new academic year in schools and universities of Belarus – in the iSANS report for October.
With the start of the new academic year, Belarusian education saw a sharp increase in the process of ideologization. In September, virtually all levels of Belarusian education were full of ideological events, which were held on a weekly basis at schools, colleges, and universities. The results of the October monitoring should show whether the sharp increase in the pace of ideologization is a sustainable trend or whether it was only related to the start of the new academic year.
In addition, the process of militarization of Belarusian education is of particular interest. In September, the practice of introducing a militarized component into the educational process resumed, but compared to the previous academic year, the pace of militarization of Belarusian education was quite slow. The September trend towards increased ideologization of Belarusian education was also reflected in the news agenda of the official resources of the Ministry of Education, where 28% of the news items were ideologically oriented, which was significantly higher than in July-August.
Based on the results of October, an analysis of the news agenda of the Ministry’s resources revealed the following data: on the official website of the Ministry of Education, 3 out of 26 news items (12%) had an ideological slant, and in the official Telegram channel, there were 46 such news items out of 176 (26%). Thus, the total share of news items with an ideological focus on the official resources of the Ministry of Education was 24%, which is slightly lower than in September. Nevertheless, every fourth news item on the Ministry of Education’s resources has a pronounced ideological character, and this indicator serves as important evidence of the significant presence of ideology in the educational process.
Based on the results of the monitoring study, we can also highlight the following phenomena that were characteristic of Belarusian education in October:
1. Imposition of pro-government and pro-Russian propaganda in the school history curriculum.
2. Continuation of the policy of subordinating the education system to the needs of the state and the economy in connection with changes in the activities of master’s programs.
3. Increased activity of the Orthodox Church in the education system.
4. Maintaining a high pace of ideologization in Belarusian education.
5. Increased militarization of Belarusian education.
6. Major educational events with Russia, China, and Uzbekistan, as well as the government’s desire to develop educational cooperation with African countries.
7. Active work with Belarusian teachers and students in projects run by pro-Russian organizations and educational institutions in Russia.
8. Working with applicants for admission to Russia, career guidance for Russian universities, and their advertising in Belarus.
9. Militarization. Russia’s war against Ukraine. Pro-war and propaganda events.
You can read or download the whole monitoring of education in Belarus for October 2025 at this link.
Материал доступен на русском языке: Больше военно-патриотических клубов и связей с Россией. Система образования Республики Беларусь в октябре 2025
