More than 75% of schools in Murmansk need major repair
By Denis Zagore
The heavily militarised region of Murmansk has 77% of its schools in dire need of renovation. Nevertheless, regional authorities are cutting education spending and redirecting funds to support schools in occupied parts of Ukraine.
As much as 77 percent of schools and educational institutions in the Murmansk region require major repairs. This is one of the highest rates in Russia, a social news and data portal informs.
The data are based on documents from the Russian Ministry of Education.
The situation comes on the backdrop of a reduction in funding for the regional education sector. On April 22, Governor Andrei Chibis signed a decree to reduce spending on the regional education and science programme by more than 84 million roubles (€940,000). These funds were initially intended for repair and upgrade of several schools and kindergartens.
Instead, they were returned to the regional reserve fund. Soon afterwards, about 7,5 million roubles of the funds were allocated to reconstruction works in occupied parts of Ukraine. Instead of renovating schools in his own region, Chibis finances the reconstruction of educational institutions in Primorsk, the town in the occupied Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region.
At the end of 2024, Governor Chibis spoke about the importance of the education sector. It is a key priority area of work within the strategic plan ‘Living in the North’ (Na Severe Zhit’), he underlined. According to Chibis, at least regional 23 schools are to be renovated over the next five years.
Similar situation in neighbouring Karelia
In neighbouring Karelia, the situation is only slightly better: according to the Ministry of Education, 65% of regional schools also require major repairs.
The real state of schools in the republic is regularly reported by the Telegram channel From Karelia with Freedom. For example, on 15 May, the channel published photographs of a school in the village of Hiidenselga, where the toilet is simply a hole in the wooden floor.
A similar situation with toilets can be found in the school of Ambarny, a settlement located in the northern part of the region.
Nevertheless, in December, the head of Karelia, Artur Parfenchikov, spoke about how the republic’s leadership has “done a lot in recent years to update the education sector.” “We are building new schools and carrying out major repairs of existing ones, including rural ones… From 2025, we will continue this work within the framework of the new national project ‘Youth and Children’,” said Parfenchikov at a meeting of the Karelia government.
Meanwhile, the authorities of Karelia, like the leadership of the Murmansk region, continue to support schools in the occupied parts of Ukraine. Karelia, in particular, supports the Vasilyevsky district of the Zaporizhzhia region.
The Barents Observer has repeatedly reported about how regional authorities in northern Russia spend budget funds on occupied lands. In the fall of 2024, it became known that the funding also included preparations for the heating season.
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