How reproductive propaganda intensified in Russian schools amid the war

Since the start of the war, school public groups on VK became a platform for demographic agitation. These pages regularly promote the “advantages of having many children,” benefits for pregnant women, and calls to reject abortion and abstain from sex before marriage.

To understand the scale of reproductive propaganda in Russian schools, «Ne Norma» and «Verstka» analyzed over 50 million posts from 30,000+ official school public groups on VK.

We selected posts mentioning demographic topics — pregnancy, childbirth, large families, abortion, chastity, and reproduction — and found that since 2021, Russian schools have published over 230,000 posts on these subjects.

“School years are a window of reproductive opportunity,” “The more children — the more happiness and state support,” “Want to start a new life? Just have a baby,” “My mom’s no ordinary lady — she’s a multi-child mama” — phrases like these have appeared regularly in Russian school pages in recent years.  

Formally, this demographic propaganda isn’t mandated by federal regulations or educational standards. But the state’s demand for it is clear, and schools are responding. Sometimes, schools initiate lectures about increasing birth rates and the “dangers” of abortion on their own. Other times, they act under direct orders from regional authorities.

🔗 For more information on which regions' school publics were most active in writing about large families and chastity, how priests began providing sex education to schoolchildren, and the key message of demographic propaganda, read the joint study by the «Ne Norma» and «Verstka» projects at the following link (article in Russian): https://verstka.media/kak-na-fone-voiny-v-rossiiskih-shkolah-usililas-reproduktivnaya-propaganda

Cover image: Lyalya Bulanova, Verstka