Education at Risk in the Northern Caucasus

The Education Support Program of the Open Society Institute published the study Education at Risk in the Northern Caucasus: Adygheya, Dagestan, Ingushetiya, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachai-Cherkessia, North Ossetia-Alania and Chechnya as part of the Caucasus Education Initiative.

The author of the report, Dr Irina Molodikova, is a research fellow at Central European University (Budapest) and Director of the Social Inequality and Exclusion seminar program for RESeT OSI (Budapest). She graduated from Moscow State University named after Lomonosov (Russia) and the University of Peace and Conflicts (Austria). Dr Molodikova currently works as a researcher in the field of population migration and as a trainer in conflict resolution in multiethnic communities in the Northern Caucasus region and the Balkans. She is the author and editor of several books on migration problems and a visiting lecturer at Central European University and Moscow State University.

Molodikova’s study draws on the quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of information sources, including existing statistical data, document analysis, and interviews with education experts (principals of schools, local authorities, officials, and NGO activists), and focus groups of teachers both in rural and urban areas. Molodikova thanks the Association Teachers of Chechnya, the nongovernmental organization Raduga, the teacher-psychologists from Ingushetiya, Dagestan, and North Ossetia-Alania, as well as the lecturers of the Stavropol State University, who helped her to organize focus groups and conducted interviews with experts in the remote regions.

In her study Molodikova argues that the Northern Caucasus republics face not only the general problems of education development related to the post-Soviet transition processes, but also region-specific education problems such as post-conflict trauma and the deteriorating quality of Russian-language instruction.

Molodikova suggests that the following lines describe the situation: “In Chechnya now rural values prevail over urban. A half-educated and ignorant boy with a gun is more respected than an elderly person, a thief is more successful than an honest farmer, and the opinion of a village mullah is more influential than the rule of law” (V. Tishkov, Obschestvo v vooruzennom konflikte [Society in an armed conflict] (Moscow: Nauka, 2001), 533).

Specific groups of at-risk children and factors hindering their full participation in education in the Northern Caucasus republics 

The Northern Caucasus is one of the most disadvantaged regions of the Russian Federation. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Northern Caucasus republics have experienced major economic decline, increasing levels of poverty, and high unemployment rates, all of which have been further aggravated by prolonged military hostilities and ethnic tension. The political, economic, and social instability of the 1990s and 2000s have led to the rapid deterioration of education provision, and placed many children and youth at risk of having limited or no access to quality education.

While the Northern Caucasus republics mirror general problems of education development related to the post-Soviet transition processes – a mismatch between curriculum and outcomes, antiquated teaching/learning methods, a lack of professional development opportunities for teachers, increasing private costs of education, a lack of preschool education, widespread corruption, and deteriorating school infrastructure – the depth and breadth of these problems is often far more pronounced in the Northern Caucasus region. In addition, the Northern Caucasus republics face region-specific education problems such as post-conflict trauma and deteriorating quality of Russian-language instruction. Combined, these multiple problems put children and youth in the Northern Caucasus republics at risk, further hindering socioeconomic development, political stability, and social cohesion of the Northern Caucasus republics. While every republic has its own combination of groups of children at-risk, Molodikova identifies some commonalities across the region.

The most frequently identified groups of children at-risk include

(1) children from low-income and poor families,

(2) victims of military conflicts and ethnic tensions,

(3) refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs),

(4) children with disabilities and health problems, and

(5) children from socially disadvantaged and marginalized families.

Given the intensity of education-related problems and the variety of children at-risk groups in the Northern Caucasus republics, Molodikova recommends using a two-pronged approach to education assistance in the region. This approach should seek to combine an improvement of the overall education environment in each republic with specific action plans for the most vulnerable groups of children (for example, children in rural areas, children with disabilities, and others). In particular, it is important to consider the following broad recommendations.

− To organize “early weekend educational centres” in order to improve school preparation for preschool age children.

− To organize special education and professional colleges (centres) for children who dropped out of the education system.

− To continue the implementation of rehabilitation and integration programs for children and teachers affected by war.

− To promote the adoption and implementation of more inclusive education policies for children with disabilities.

− To increase opportunities for disadvantaged youth (for example, children from rural areas) to study in higher education institutions.

− To support physical rehabilitation of school facilities.

− To introduce a system of “Green computers” to improve student access to information.

− To create an extracurricular system in schools and encourage extracurricular activities between the various regions of the NCR to promote tolerance.

− Provide regular opportunities for in-service teacher training programs.

− Increase the motivation of teachers through financial and professional incentives.

− To support the academic and professional development of intelligentsia from the Northern Caucasus republics by creating a special department of the Caucasus studies in one of the well established universities in Russia.

− To increase the number of higher education students in the programs/departments preparing teachers of Russian and national languages/literatures.

− To organize professional development opportunities for school teachers in the methodology of using Russian as a second language of instruction.