President Vladimir Putin hasordered Russian schools to appoint dedicated patriotic advisers as part of an ongoing push to instill spiritual-moral values in the nations students amid the war in Ukraine.Schools in 45 Russian regions will need to install so-called advisers on the principals of educational work from Sept.
1, according to a presidential decree published Sunday.Schools in another 40 regions will need to follow suit by the start of the 2023 school year.The advisers will be responsible for instilling patriotism and spiritual-moral values in children as part of anew educational program that will replace Russias current curriculum.Ten Russian regions have already appointed similar advisers as part of apilot project launched in March 2021, not long after thousands of young Russians took to the streets in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.Experts havecriticized the move as redundant and ideological.The move is just one part of an ongoing push to boost patriotism among young Russians.Putinenshrined patriotic education as part of Russias school curriculum in 2020, including it as part of controversial constitutional reforms which allowed the president to extend his 20-year rule into 2036.Earlier this week, the speaker of Russias lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin,criticized teachers who opposed Moscow's war in Ukraine and called on them to resign.