The Evolution of the Russian Language Education Policy for Immigrant Students in Contemporary Russian Primary and Secondary Schools

Abstract As one of the world’s major immigrant-receiving countries, Russia has a large immigrant population, and the education of immigrant students has become an important social issue that cannot be ignored. Due to the influence of the immigrants’ originating culture and the structure of the immigrant population, currently the Russian language proficiency of immigrant students in Russian schools is generally insufficient to meet the requirements for attending classes, leading to an increasingly sharp contradiction between the right to education of immigrants and that of the native citizens. This has also become the driving force behind the Russian government’s recent tightening of Russian language education policy for immigrant students. Overall, as a microcosm of the immigration landscape in the post-Soviet space and the evolution of Russia’s immigration policy, the current Russian language education policy for immigrant students has roughly gone through three stages: flexible enrolment, preliminary regulation, and strengthened supervision. Ultimately, by linking the admission qualifications of immigrant students to their Russian language proficiency, the effective screening of qualified immigrant students has been realized. This evolution fully reflects the idea of “Russian cultural dominant” in Russia’s immigration policy and highlights the key role of the Russian language in shaping a unified national identity and uniting a diverse society. The evolution of Russian language education policy for immigrant students reflects the current challenges Russia faces in integrating immigrants. At present, the immigration environment in Russia is not yet sufficiently inclusive. In the future, adopting more accommodating measures toward labour migrants and creating conditions for them to receive Russian language education will help immigrants better integrate into Russian society.