Belarusian kindergartens and schools as ideological front lines

Censorship, repression, and ideological indoctrination are increasingly shaping the information landscape in both Russia and Belarus. In recent months, this trend has accelerated in Belarus when it comes to ideological indoctrination and the promotion of militaristic rhetoric among Belarusian minors. The exploitation of minors for state propaganda purposes has become a recurring phenomenon.

Private kindergartens as ‘footholds of colour revolutions’

The Belarusian regime expectedly labelled the 2020-2021 Belarusian protests over the rigged 2020 elections as a Western-supported ‘colour revolution’. Not only did the authorities begin to repress tens of thousands of people who supposedly took part in peaceful protests or simply exchanged news produced by independent media. Officials started to suspect nearly all non-state organisations, including kindergartens, of being ‘colour revolution’ facilitators.

In 2021, the then-Minister of Education Ihar Karpenka, currently the chair of the Central Electoral Commission, denounced ‘semi-legal private kindergartens and schools’ which he claimed in many cases were ‘used for political goals and have been converted into footholds of colour revolutions’. A year later, Alyaksandr Lukashenka publicly called to ‘cleanse everything until it’s no longer possible in the education field’.

Belarusian Berufsverbot for teachers

This call to action quickly translated into a regulation imposed in late 2022 which introduced licensing procedures for schools and kindergartens. The official justification stated that the law would contribute to bringing up ‘ideologically resistant and well-rounded persons’. Dozens of existing private kindergartens and schools across the country were shut down in the following months. As of February 2025, only seven private schools and kindergartens were functioning in Belarus.

Furthermore, the Belarusian regime moved to prevent the access of ‘politically disloyal’ teachers to educational institutions. A December 2024 bill proposed amendments to laws on ensuring children’s rights which would bar anyone with ‘extremist’ convictions from being employed as teachers.

Since 2020, nearly any opposition activity in Belarus has been regarded as ‘extremism’. UN Special Rapporteurs published a statement declaring Belarusian anti-extremism laws incompatible with international law. They also denounced the authorities’ proposed restrictions on the right to work and urged reconsidering the draft law. However, there is little doubt that the draft law will soon be adopted. The practice of conducting employment interviews at local education departments that verify the political loyalty of potential teachers has been in place for some time even in the absence of the discussed regulation.

The Belarusian regime has also actively combatted any other youth activity that could be organised without state patronage. The Ministry of Education reported that last summer around ten ‘unsanctioned’ summer camps had been identified and their activities stopped.

Belarusian minors and youth used in state propaganda

Since 2024, minors have been regularly used in state propaganda campaigns. For instance, in December 2024, when the state-controlled Belarusian professional union of educators and scientists launched an online campaign to popularise the official flag in universities, schools, and kindergartens throughout the country, it also published videos of employees and minors waving flags.

A December 2024 state TV report, building on the stories of four young people, concluded that ‘Belarusian youth are thankful’. When asked who their ideological inspiration was, they said without a second thought that the president is. The same programme, in a different report, alleged that the Baltic states had already intended to destabilise Belarus in 2020 with the aim of attracting Belarusian youth to their countries amid a difficult demographic situation.

Minors were also used to legitimise the so-called ‘presidential elections’ in Belarus in January 2025. Schoolchildren across the country were brought to voting stations and schools organised role games imitating the voting process. A study of this phenomenon concluded that instead of educating minors about the importance of genuine democratic procedures, they were offered participation in staged events and provided with a view of elections as a ritual where you act and behave as expected.

Minors and youth were even more broadly exploited during Lukashenka’s inauguration on 25 March 2025. The Belarusian State University published a video of students and the rector shouting pro-Lukashenka slogans. Other universities and schools published photos of employees and students watching the live inauguration ceremony, supposedly with great interest and admiration. One kindergarten published a photo of kids ‘celebrating’ while holding toys, official flags, and a book entitled ‘Our President’. Since its release in early 2025, this book, co-authored by four former and current state officials, has been purchased in large numbers by various public institutions, including schools.

Young schoolchildren posing to celebrate Lukashenka’s inauguration

‘Military and patriotic’ clubs against ‘foreign managers’

The state apparatus continued to pay considerable attention to the development of so-called ‘military and patriotic clubs’ for minors which came into existence in late 2021. It was recently announced that in the 2024-25 school year, Belarusian universities were to introduce a new specialisation dedicated to ‘military and patriotic upbringing’. This is similar to the mandatory classes taught in Russian elementary schools.

A December 2024 state TV report spoke about 159 such clubs across Belarus with over 5,500 children participating. The Ministry of the Interior directly sponsors nineteen of them. The report was dedicated to sport activities and firearms training for kids. It justified the formation of ‘military and patriotic’ clubs by the alleged activities of so-called anti-Belarusian foreign actors, saying, ‘Foreign managers often attempt to use [Belarusian] youth in their interests, trying to instil the preferred kind of truth and views into their fragile young minds’.

Screenshot from a state report featuring the training of children at a military club

Throughout late 2024 and early 2025, Belarusian state outlets generously reported on the national Vyzov (‘Challenge’) tournament among ‘military and patriotic’ clubs. One of several state TV reports featured Nikolay Zarubitsky, head of the ‘Patriots of Belarus’ organisation, speaking about the ideological foundation of similar initiatives: ‘We want to show all citizens how much was done, how [good] our president and country is, and that we should not go to the West where no one is waiting for us’.

Screenshot from a state report featuring the training of children at a military club

The Belarusian regime has taken nearly all educational institutions and youth activities under its tight control, where children and youth are turned into pawns in the regime’s game.

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Article and pictures first time published on the EUvsDisinfo web page. Prepared for publication by volunteers from the Res Publica - The Center for Civil Resistance.