The number of children studying outside regular schools is rising rapidly in Russia. Researchers say that while 17,912 schoolchildren used alternative forms of education in 2016, the figure reached 174,683 in 2023 and 189,723 in 2024.
After the start of the war, some families began using these options to keep their children on the Russian curriculum while living abroad. Konstantin, a Muscovite who moved with his family to Argentina, said his children attend a local school there while also studying remotely under the Russian program. In 2025, however, a Moscow school informed him that fees would increase after subsidies were cut: 5,500 rubles per month for one child and 4,950 rubles for the other.
Russian law allows not only full-time schooling, but also part-time, remote, family-based education and self-education. Under family education, parents notify local education authorities, withdraw the child from school, enroll with an accredited institution and complete regular assessments. Under remote enrollment, the child remains officially registered at a school but does not attend classes every day.
Interim assessments are usually conducted by a licensed school and are often available online. But the final exams in grades 9 and 11, OGE and EGE, must be taken in person. For families abroad, exam centers operate through consulates and embassies; according to Rosobrnadzor, such centers exist in 55 countries.
Parents say they choose alternative education to shield children from ideological pressure, create a more flexible pace and combine study with sports or other activities.
“My son was dressed in a soldier’s uniform in first grade and handed a gun prop for some May concert without even asking me,” said Nadezhda, whose family now lives in Montenegro.
Critics of the model mainly warn about possible socialization problems. Still, many families try to offset that through sports clubs, language classes and social life outside school. The largest numbers of homeschooled children are recorded in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar Krai and Moscow Region, while in some regions such cases are rare or absent altogether.