In Russia, more than 400 rural schools are closed every year.

About 400-500 rural schools shut down in Russia every year, Izvestia estimated based on reports from the Ministry of Education on the state of the education system in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

I walked out the wrong door: in Russia, for the first time in 6 years, the number of children not enrolled in schools has increased

Experts do not consider this a trend, but they note an increase in the proportion of the illiterate population.

In the 2024/25 academic year, 21.1 thousand schools operated in Russian villages, which is 400 fewer than in the past. At the same time, about 900 rural schools were closed in total in 2022-2024. So, only in the Saratov region over the past year there have been 50 fewer such educational institutions, in Bashkiria — by 25, in Mordovia — by 14.

Konstantin Anchikov, a leading expert at the Pinsky Center for General and Additional Education, told Izvestia that there were 9.7% fewer teachers in Russian villages from 2016 to 2024.

"It is more difficult to attract young teachers to villages. In rural schools, the proportion of teachers under 30 is lower than in urban schools — 11.1% and 16.7%, respectively. Former graduates often come to their native school as teachers, for whom this is a guaranteed and familiar place of employment. The Zemsky Uchitel program is also working to attract staff to rural schools," the expert noted.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

There is no learning: why rural schools are disappearing in Russia