Educational Opportunities in the Northern Caucasus: Political, Economic, and Social Challenges

Abstracts from Dr Irina Molodikova’s study Education at Risk in the Northern Caucasus: Adygheya, Dagestan, Ingushetiya, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachai-Cherkessia, North Ossetia-Alania and Chechnya published by the Open Society Institute

According to the socioeconomic and educational indicators, the Northern Caucasus republics could be grouped into three clusters. Adygheya enjoys the most favourable socioeconomic situation, with its indices of socio–economic and educational development approximating the average for the Russian Federation. The region is located inside the Krasnodar krai, which has dynamic economic development and will be the centre of the winter Olympic Games in 2014. The next group consists of North Ossetia–Alania (without the Prigorodnyi district), Karachaevo–Cherkessia, and Kabardino–Balkaria, where socioeconomic indices are two times worse than the average for Russia. However, these republics witnessed improvement trends over the last five years. The group with the lowest socioeconomic performance in Russia consists of Chechnya, Ingushetiya, Dagestan, and the Prigorodnyi district of the North Ossetia–Alania.

Cities as education centres 

The level of urbanization is one of the key indicators of modernization because human, social, and economic capital is generally concentrated in cities. From this perspective, the proportion of urban population to the overall population could be an indirect indicator of the potential availability of quality education. Examined within this context, the Northern Caucasus Republics are at a clear disadvantage compared to the rest of the Russian Federation. For example, the proportion of the urban population in the Russian Federation comprises on average 72.9%, while it does not exceed 40% in most of the Northern Caucasus republics. The proportion of urban population varies by republic, with North Ossetia-Alania andAdygheya having the largest proportion of urban population (64.7% and 52.5% respectively) and Chechnya the lowest (34.3%).

In all Northern Caucasus republics, capital cities are the largest cities, logically accumulating the highest share of the urban population. Of all Northern Caucasus republics, Dagestan has the most developed system of higher education and vocational institutions, mainly because the Republic has several middle-size cities in addition to the capital. Higher education is available in six state higher education institutions and nine private higher education institutions. With the exception of Dagestan, the non-capital urban settlements in the Northern Caucasus are small and largely undeveloped as education centres due to a lack of human capital, including qualified teachers and higher education lecturers. Thus, the number of higher education institutions in Kabardino-Balkaria is limited to four, followed by three in Ingushetiya and Chechnya, two in Karachai-Cherkessiya, and only one in Adygea. Undoubtedly, this inhibits the dissemination of knowledge, which depends on a strong network of urban settlements and infrastructure.

Furthermore, it is important to note that the black market entailing self-employment without tax payment is flourishing in many of the Northern Caucasus republics. Therefore, the official level of unemployment may not reflect the real situation. Of all Northern Caucasus republics, Adygheya may have slightly more favourable prospects for socioeconomic development because of its geographic proximity to the Krasnodar region, which will become the site of the Olympic Games in 2014. In preparation for the Games, an estimated amount of US12 billion dollars will be invested in the development of the Krasnodar region. This will positively impact the socioeconomic development of the region, including modernization of the regional service industry the construction of a complex infrastructure of sports facilities, which will bring about the rapid development of the Krasnodar region and Adygheya. Similarly, an Integral Index of Investment Risks for 2004-2006 places Adygheya in a more advantaged socioeconomic position compared to the lowest scoring Chechnya and Ingushetiya. With the exception of Adygheya, then, major economic investments in the Northern Caucasus are highly unlikely in the near future, further complicating prospects for education development.

Demographic changes and trends 

The total population of seven North Caucasian republics comprises 6.6 million people. Dagestan and Chechnya account for the biggest population among the Northern Caucasus republics, 2.6 million and 1.1 million respectively. The populations of these two republics comprise one third of the population residing in all seven republics. Nearly one million people live in Kabardino-Balkaria. Smaller and practically equal populations reside in Adygheya, Karachai-Cherkessiya, and Ingushetiya. The last Census (2002) indicated a population growth in Chechnya, Ingushetiya, Dagestan and Karachaevo–Cherkessia, despite the mass outflow of population during the Chechnya wars. Some scientists dispute this data, citing inappropriate data collection processes. Adygheya, however, shares more similarities with the Krasnodar region, where the population growth has been stagnant due to the low fertility and high mortality rates typical for most of the regions of the Russian Federation. While all of the Northern Caucasus republics have experienced population growth until the 2000s, the situation is changing. For example, population growth is still evident in Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetiya; however, the natural increase is complemented by the influx of Chechen refugees in Ingushetiya whose presence is a heavy burden for the republic. However, the other republics have experienced a population decrease due to the migration outflow. Prior to the 1990s, population increases due to birth were typical across the Northern Caucasus republics, resulting in a high proportion of children and youth in these republics. The proportion of children and youth (newborns to 17 year olds) in the total population fluctuates between a high of 41.4% in Ingushetiya, 39.3% in Chechnya, and 35.4% in Dagestan, to a low of 17.7% in Adygheya, 24.8% Karachai-Cherkessiya and Ossetia-Alania, and 27.6% in Kabardino-Balkaria.10 The proportion of the dependent population in Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetiya is double Russia’s average, which explains an exceptionally high demographic burden on the working age population in these North Caucasian republics.

Combined with an unfavourable socioeconomic situation, such a large number of dependent people can contribute to the growth of poverty in the Northern Caucasus republics and put more children at risk of limited education opportunities.

Multi-ethnicity and its challenges to education opportunities 

The Northern Caucasus republics are the most multiethnic region of Russia, providing home to more than 70 ethnic groups. In the history of their coexistence, some of these groups at different times experienced ethnic tensions. The historical memory often (for example, as in case of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict) is the cause for the inter-ethnic tensions. Many conflicts originated in the 19th century and gained greater intensity after the deportations carried out by Stalin when thousands of people from the Northern Caucasus were involuntarily relocated to Siberia and Central Asia. Some of these conflicts persist to the present day and cause bloody events like the widely known conflicts in the Prigorodnyi district of North Ossetia in the 1990s, the Beslan tragedy in the Ossetian school in 2004, and cases of Russian teachers and their families being killed in Ingushetiya in the summer of 2007. Such eruptions of violence undermine peaceful co-existence of different ethnic groups and create problems for the education process.

Indigenous ethnic groups of the Northern Caucasus republics: important developments

First, the indigenous population continues to grow despite the overall population decrease in some republics, which is likely to be partially caused by the out-migration of the Russian-speaking population from the Northern Caucasus republics.

Second, there is an increase of ethnic homogeneity and ethnic concentration in most of the Northern Caucasus republics (with the exception of Chechniya) and “squeezing” out of some ethnic minority groups in several republics of the Northern Caucasus republics. The rapid increase of ethnic homogeneity across the region raises some concerns. On the one hand, this may alleviate inter-ethnic tensions as some minority ethnic groups may feel pressured to leave by titular ethnic groups. On the other hand, ethnic concentration of indigenous populations may have adverse effects on the acquisition of Russian language skills among titular ethnicities, hindering their opportunities to pursue higher education studies anywhere in the Russian Federation.

The collapse of the Soviet Union has heightened ethnic tensions and resulted in ethnic conflicts across the Northern Caucasus region. Perhaps the most difficult situation is in Chechnya. The resurgence of Chechen nationalism in the 1990s was accompanied by a resurgence of Islam. Political and military violence began to dominate all Chechen affairs. Annually, tens and even hundreds of people were killed by armoured rebels. Military conflicts from 1994-1996, and again in 1999, seriously damaged the economic infrastructure and disrupted both agricultural and industrial activity. One of Russia’s petroleum pipelines that crossed Chechnya provided the republic with transit fees from Caspian hydrocarbons which was one of the major sources of revenue. Moreover, all three petroleum refineries in the republic were destroyed during the 1994-1996 conflict. In mid-1999, the Chechen section of a petroleum pipeline from Baku (Azerbaijan) to Novorossiisk, was closed, owing to the lack of security in the region.

The situation in Dagestan also became more complicated, especially because from the late 1990s the republic has experienced a steady growth of support for Islamist groups. Aided by local militant Islamists, Chechen militants invaded Dagestan in August-September 1999; an explosion in Buinaksk, outside facilities used to accommodate federal troops, killed about 60 people. Subsequently, a number of explosions in Dagestan were attributed to supporters of Chechen separatism, including a bombing on May 9, 2002 in Kaspijsk, when 45 people were killed.

Relations with Chechnya were further strained after 11 villagers were abducted during a “cleansing” operation in Borozdinovskaya. The situation has remained unstable until now, with frequent military outbreaks from both sides. Every month the media reports new cases of terrorist acts, killings, or hatred cases.

In North Ossetia-Alania, the tragedy of Beslan has become known worldwide. On the first day of school (September 1, 2004), approximately 30 militants seized control of a local school, taking at least 1,100 students, parents, and teachers hostage. Following a series of explosions on September 3, Federal Special Forces stormed the school. Official figures claimed that some 331 hostages were killed, including 186 children, although some independent estimates placed the number of fatalities at closer to 600.

Many international and Russian scholars are pessimistic about the future of political, economic, and social development of the North Caucasus republics, noting a strong likelihood for prolonged ethnic tensions in the region. Using an evaluation scale of conflict possibilities in the Northern Caucasus, experts from the Russian Academy of Science suggest that three of the Northen Caucasus republics (Dagestan, Ingushetiya, and Chechnya) continue to be the area of “hot conflicts,” scoring “4” on a five score scale, with “5” represening the “hot” conflicts and “0” representing latent hidden tensions. Of all Northern Caucasus republics, only Adygheya is rated the lowest, while the situation in North Ossetia-Alania, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachai-Cherkessiya republics scored “3” with a trend of gradually decreasing number of ethnic conflicts.

Some of the factors underlying ethnic conflicts in the region include deteriorating economic conditions, ineffective local governance, consolidation of clans, human rights violations, unabated corruption, resurgence of radical Islam, the growth of migration, and many others. Undoubtedly, these factors underline some of the ethnic tensions in the region and they are likely to remain unresolved in the near future.

Continued ethnic tensions and conflicts have become features of every day life in Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetiya, and occasionally in other republics, negatively affecting all society and especially children. For example, surveys carried out in 2002 and 2004 by specialists of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Psychology have demonstrated that the incidence of psychotic disorders and disturbances among the Chechen population was around 86% in 2002 and 75% in 2004. More than 30% of the population suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome (K.A. Idrisov, V. N.Krasnov, Psychiatric health of Chechen Republic Population Under Enduring State of Emergency. Disturbances (Moscow: WHO, Scientific Research Institute of psychiatry, the RF Ministry of public health. Groznyi, 2004)). Disturbance of social functioning prevails amongst teenagers because 28% of them (i.e. among adolescents examined in 2004) had psychologically traumatic experiences related to threats on their lives, whereas in 2002, the corresponding figure was 65%. Both experts and teachers note that rehabilitation programs are inadequate for the situation in Chechnya and a shortage of competent pedagogues-psychologists exists. Similarly, studies performed by UNICEF demonstrated that a great number of children and their parents need psychological rehabilitation.

Undoubtedly, the combination of devastating ethnic tensions and conflicts, gloomy economic development prospects, corruption, ineffective governance, and demographic changes, negatively affects the entire population of the Northern Caucasus republics, especially children and youth who require urgent assistance. The issues of declining access to education in general and the quality of education in particular are especially urgent as they may have irreversible impact on generations of young people, further hindering socioeconomic development, political stability, and social cohesion of the Northern Caucasus republics.