Rubber definitions

Obviously, in order to somehow regulate “educational activity”, we need to define what we mean by this term.

The law contains the following definition:

“is an activity carried out outside the framework of educational programs aimed at disseminating knowledge, experience, developing skills, values, competencies for the purposes of intellectual, spiritual, moral, creative, physical and (or) professional development of a person, meeting his educational needs and interests."

As you can see, the concept of “educational activity” turned out to be so broad that it can include not only open lectures, paid seminars from business consultants or practitioners, training videos on YouTube, but also, for example, such situations:

• Do you retell to your friends the contents of a recently read book? This is educational work!

• Are you showing your neighbor how to cook borscht according to your signature recipe? Educational activity!

• Are you learning the alphabet with your own nephew? Obviously, this is an educational activity!

Thus, the regulatory authorities can recognize as "educational activities" anything at their own discretion.

Useless and harmful restrictions

The bill prohibits the use of educational activities to “incite social, racial, national or religious hatred, including by providing students with false information about the historical, national, religious and cultural traditions of peoples, as well as to induce actions that are contrary to the Constitution of the Russian Federation.”

The ban on “inciting discord” in this law is absolutely meaningless, since these actions are already prohibited under Russian law under pain of criminal liability. 

As for the ban on reporting “inaccurate information”, I would like to ask who will evaluate the information for its reliability. Any science - humanitarian, natural, exact - is not a set of immutable axioms. Every day, numerous theories and hypotheses are born, confirmed or refuted. 

Proceeding from this, the ban on “inaccurate information” can only be understood as the introduction of censorship, when any opinion that differs from the “official” one can be banned as & nbsp; "unreliable". Actually, the creators of the law do not hide their intentions. Thus, the official State Duma website explicitly states that the law is intended to “protect Russian citizens, primarily schoolchildren and students, from anti-Russian propaganda, presented under the guise of educational activities”. After all, we will not deny that with regard to a number of historical figures and events in the history of our country, we do not have an unequivocal opinion - the role of Nicholas II and Joseph Stalin, dispossession, famine, deportation of peoples, Katyn, Gulag and others. Yes, even at least the Tatar-Mongolian yoke! Due to “unreliability”, it will be possible to prohibit putting forward alternative hypotheses, citing facts that run counter to ideology and value judgments of known facts.

Needless to say, the law in this part directly violates Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which guarantees freedom of speech, freedom to disseminate and receive information, as well as the prohibition of censorship.

All powers belong to the executive branch

The law does not contain any specifics, it only says that educational activities should be controlled. Specific rules should be developed by the Government of the Russian Federation.

And here again we see a violation of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Article 55 allows some of the constitutionally guaranteed rights to be restricted. But such restrictions should be introduced only by federal laws, and not by acts of executive power.  

Taking into account the fact that acts of the Government are adopted according to a much simpler procedure than laws, it can be assumed that the specific rules of “educational activity” will be rewritten based on the desire of the Russian authorities to ban this or that objectionable opinion at a particular moment. 

The initial draft resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation confirmed the worst assumptions:

• the already “rubber” definition of educational activity has become even wider;

• so-called “foreign agents” were banned from educational activities. It is no secret that in Russia, primarily prominent public organizations that cause dissatisfaction with the authorities are recognized as foreign agents;

• only people with at least two years of work experience were allowed to engage in education, that is, student-a senior student cannot give a lecture on the topic of his thesis for schoolchildren;

• It is possible to conduct educational activities only on the basis of contracts - an absurd requirement, given the fact that a significant part of educators give lectures without any payment, “for an idea”.

This project, after a huge shaft of criticism, was eventually withdrawn “for revision”. Perhaps the most odious points from it will disappear, however, the general direction is unlikely to change dramatically. 

Disappointing conclusions

The law “on educational activities” directly contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation and is an attempt to introduce censorship in Russia. Anyone can become a victim of this law - "rubber" definitions and broad powers of the executive branch allow it. 

If you or your business are affected by this law, if you have questions about how to continue to conduct your activities, which can be recognized as “educational” from June 1, send questions to the mail info@jurproject .ru with the theme “law on education” 

Author

Daria Vladimirovna Tretyakova

Head of representative office in Moscow