Russia bans migrant children without Russian language skills from enrolling in schools

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, December 28, signed a law prohibiting enrollment in Russian schools of children of migrants who do not know Russian. The document was published on the official portal of legal information.

According to the law, children of migrants can be enrolled in Russian schools for primary, basic and secondary education only after successful free testing in the Russian language, which will confirm their ability to master the school program.

It is specified that those who fail the Russian language test will not be allowed to study in Russian schools.

In addition, children of migrants who are in Russia illegally are not entitled to be enrolled in an educational institution.

Honor of speech: migrant children will not be admitted to schools without knowledge of Russian language

The State Duma passed the law in the second and third readings

Earlier, on December 24, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said that the test of migrant children for Russian language skills for enrollment in schools will begin on April 1, 2025. He added that Rosobrnadzor is now finalizing the methodological materials, testing systems and evaluation criteria.

Prior to that, on November 5, the President instructed to prepare a federal algorithm for working with the children of migrants who know Russian poorly or do not speak it at all. Putin recalled that foreign students take a language proficiency test before entering a university and noted that this test should be given a unified standard.