Annexations and conscriptions

Now, certain topics and themes that once formed a key part of the history exam have notably been cut from the syllabus. Maxim Ivantsov, ex-head of the Youth Human Rights Group and coordinator of the Frame educational project, noted that the following topics had been removed: “Democracy, its main values and features”; “Civil society and the rule of law”; “International law. The concept and subject of international law. International protection of human rights in peacetime and wartime”; and “Conscription, alternative civilian service.”

Questions are bound to come up on this topic.

In one of the sample questions provided in the draft history exam, candidates are asked to arrange certain events in chronological order, one of these being the “signing of the agreements on the admission of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions into Russia”.

In another task, they are asked to match historical events to historical figures. One event, being the "special military operation," as the war in Ukraine is called in Russia, is meant to be matched with Olga Kachura, a pro-Russian Ukrainian separatist and colonel of the Donetsk People’s Militia.

Ivan Nokhirin, a Russian history tutor, tells Agenstvo that “yes, school children need to brush up on details and facts related to the special military operation. Questions are bound to come up on this topic given its central importance to Russian society.”

Crimea question

But many teachers are less sure, and remain skeptical that the “special military operation” will in fact be tested in the coming years. Kirill Stanishevsky, a history teacher at a Russian online school, believes that while there are likely to be major changes to the exams, the Kremlin is unlikely to push its luck. “Crimea was more than eight years ago,” he tells Agenstvo. “But there has not yet been a single question on it in the exam.”

The topic is too fresh.

Alexandra Yudina, a history and social studies tutor does not believe the special military operation will have a place in this year’s exam. “The topic is too fresh,” she says. “We still only have a draft syllabus, not a final official document. Things might change.”

One independent Russian Telegram channel, “Beware, Moscow,” also commented on the Unified State Examination in literature, saying that instead of studying the works of the great Golden Age writers like Pushkin, Lermontov or Gogol, students are now offered works that boast Russia’s heroic role in World War II.