Parents in occupied regions of Ukraine are being offered $167 to send their children to Russian-controlled schools, in President Vladimir Putin’s latest effort to “Russianize” the curriculum.

The Kremlin announced on Wednesday the one-off payment of 10,000 rubles to parents of children in Donetsk and Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv and Kherson, as long as they attend by September 15.

The amount equates to roughly just less than half a month’s average salary, as of a 2021 estimate by statistics website Statista. However, the wartime economy and global inflation has caused the cost of living to soar, The New York Times reported in July.

The ruble was adopted as an official currency in several occupied areas of Ukraine, including southern Kherson, in June, according to The Times of Israel.

The Kremlin’s announcement follows multiple reports that the Kremlin is attempting to remould the education system in areas of Ukraine it controls to reflect a Russia-centric view of the world. That includes reports of threats and fines to parents, and intimidation of Ukrainian teachers.

In July, teachers of topics like history, geography and languages in occupied Kharkiv were threatened with redundancy if they didn’t sign an agreement to follow the Russian curriculum, The Guardian reported.

“Math, physics, biology and chemistry curriculum in Russia don’t carry propaganda, so they are left alone, at least for now,” a teacher, who was unnamed for his safety, told the paper.

In Melitopol, a city in Zaporizhzhia that has been occupied since early March, most teachers have already left, according to local publication RIA-Melitopol. The New Yorker reported several teachers being run out of the city early in the occupation after refusing to teach a curriculum approved by occupying forces.

In-person school attendance has plummeted and online classes were set up, where pupils can gain an education as taught in the rest of Ukraine, the outlet reported. September’s online curriculum has just been announced, RIA-Melitopol reported.

One school that agreed to cooperate with the Russian system threatened a 40,000-ruble fine, and even loss of custody to parents who don’t make their children attend, RIA-Melitopol reported.

Serhiy Shyshkovskiy, a history teacher in the Kherson region, told Radio Free Europe in early July: “Locals don’t want to send their children to these schools, but they are scared.”

Another unnamed teacher told the station of similar pressures in the Zaporizhzhia city of Enerhodar.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/kremlin-paying-ukraine-families-using-russia-controlled-schools-2022-8?r=MX&IR=T