Developments in Belarus
Continued repression in the academic community
As of early August 2026, human rights organizations had documented 183 cases of persecution related to the designation of the European Humanities University as an “extremist organization.” The persecution affects students and graduates, their parents, lecturers, and former EHU employees. There have been known cases of administrative arrests, searches, interrogations, and summonses for meetings with the KGB. The actual number of cases of pressure may be higher, as KGB officers usually demand that such information not be disclosed.
Updated ideological guidelines ahead of the new academic year
Ahead of the new academic year, the Ministry of Education sent out an instructional and methodological letter on teaching history in schools. It emphasizes that “the period when Belarus was part of the Russian Empire played a major role in the formation of Belarusian national statehood. The incorporation of Belarusian lands into the Russian Empire became a decisive factor that made it possible to stop the Polonization of Belarusians and contributed to the development of national and spiritual traditions.” By contrast, the period when Belarus was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is described predominantly in negative terms. The period of Stalinist repression in the Byelorussian SSR in the 1930s is recommended to be presented as a time when “the construction of the socialist system opened up prospects for the broad masses of the people.” The assessment of the repression itself almost verbatim repeats the views of Soviet historiography, according to which there were only individual “distortions of the principles of justice and legality.”
Increased militarization of secondary and vocational education
The Ministry of Education announced changes to pre-conscription training. It was reported that the practice of holding 10-day military field exercises would be expanded. According to Education Minister Andrei Ivantsou, while 15% of tenth-graders in Minsk took part in them in 2026, the target for 2027 is to reach 100%. In addition, students at vocational and specialized secondary educational institutions will take part in such exercises.
The curriculum for basic military training will be expanded to include the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles and tactical medicine. Notably, the meeting of the pedagogical section on pre-conscription training was held at Military Unit 5448 of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus.
New higher education institution announcement
In August, a project to establish the Academy of Intelligent Technologies was announced. It is expected to be a small higher education institution designed to train 500–600 students in natural sciences and engineering technologies, including applied materials science, physical and chemical engineering, and aerospace technologies. One of its main objectives is to ensure the rapid absorption of all new technologies, test them in the educational process, and subsequently transfer them to traditional comprehensive universities.
It is clear that the academy will be largely oriented towards the needs of the defense industry. It is therefore no coincidence that Aliaksandr Lukashenka tasked it with “inventing a fundamentally new and powerful means of combating drones, which are currently on everyone’s lips.” The academy is also expected to help address the shortage of qualified teaching staff caused by an aging workforce: “to train new scientists, lecturers, and chief technologists.” Among other objectives, the authorities mention preventing talented young people from leaving the country.
This is already the second initiative to establish a new higher education institution announced within a year. In January, a project for an Educational Centre for Training Specialists in Promising Fields was announced, with a training profile similar to that of the Academy of Intelligent Technologies.
Abandonment of plans for a private tutor register
The Ministry of Education of Belarus has abandoned plans to establish a mandatory register of private tutors. The decision followed a public discussion of the draft and a negative public reaction. It had been planned that only individuals included in the register would be allowed to work as tutors. Instead, the authorities plan to launch a special “showcase” listing individuals who independently provide professional educational services to children. Participation in the “showcase” will be voluntary, but it is noted that people convicted in “extremism”-related cases will not have access to it.
Falsification of enrollment figures in education
The Prosecutor’s Office of the Vitsebsk Region reported a criminal case against a former university rector who had been falsely enrolling applicants in state-funded places for several years in order to conceal actual problems with student recruitment. According to independent media, the institution in question is the Vitsebsk State Academy of Veterinary Medicine. The rector instructed employees to submit people’s documents to the admissions committee, register them, and deliberately enter false information about their admission and enrollment in official records. The fictitiously enrolled students were subsequently expelled.
There is an opinion that similar practices may be common at many higher education institutions that are unpopular with applicants but are required to meet state-set student enrollment targets.
Developments abroad
Publication of Uladzimir Kananovich’s monograph in the UK
A monograph by Belarusian historian Uladzimir Kananovich, “Social Memory and Memorial Landscapes in the Eastern Part of Medieval Europe,” has been published by ARC Humanities Press in the United Kingdom.
The book is the result of an in-depth study of the formation of social memory among the aristocratic circles of medieval Eastern Europe, who sought to create a new version of the past that corresponded to the realities of their time. The author seeks to answer the question of why certain historical events and figures, whether real or imagined, gained particular popularity in specific contexts and spaces, even when the connection to them was questionable. This includes an examination of how, beginning in the 16th century, perceptions of Mindaugas became closely associated with Navahrudak rather than Vilnius.
Education discussion at the New Belarus conference
This year, for the first time, the New Belarus Conference featured a separate panel on education. The discussion brought together experts, students, teachers, and representatives of parent organizations. The focus was on the crisis facing Belarusian education and ways to overcome it. Participants noted that the system inside Belarus is increasingly being subordinated to propaganda, militarization, Russification, and political control, while schools and universities are losing qualified teachers and researchers. The Belarusian diaspora is seeking to preserve the language and culture but faces a shortage of schools and textbooks, as well as insufficient funding.
Particular attention was drawn to the European Humanities University, which, according to the speakers, failed to adequately protect Belarusian students during the crisis and lost sight of its original mission. Participants in the discussion proposed establishing a new national university and supporting parents and teachers, as well as educational initiatives within the diaspora. The main goal is to avoid losing a generation of young people and to preserve the intellectual potential needed for a democratic European Belarus.
Pavel Tereshkovich’s public lecture at the Free Belarus Museum
Historian, cultural anthropologist, and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Advisor on Education and Science, Pavel Tereshkovich, gave a public lecture at the Free Belarus Museum in Warsaw on August 11 on the events of 2020 in Belarus. In his view, these were not simply protests but a genuine revolution, whose goal was not to resolve a specific problem but to fundamentally change the political system. Many Belarusian and foreign researchers support this definition.
Pavel Tereshkovich stressed that, unlike other political upheavals of the 19th and 20th centuries, which were more of an echo of events centered outside Belarus, the events of 2020 originated entirely within Belarus. This makes it possible to characterize them specifically as the First Belarusian Revolution. According to the lecturer, on August 23, 2020, protesters came very close to victory. However, they lacked several hundred or several thousand people willing to take a decisive step forward. A new “window of opportunity” could open unexpectedly, particularly if Russia is weakened by the war.
The lecturer concluded that while the path to democracy may be long, it is important to learn from the past and be prepared to act decisively.
Publication of a monograph on Belarus’s memory of World War II in Germany
A monograph by German researcher Ekaterina Keding, “Memory between Triumph and Trauma. Belarus and the Second World War, 1942–2019” (“Erinnerung zwischen Triumph und Trauma. Belarus und der Zweite Weltkrieg, 1942–2019”), has been published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
The book examines in detail how the memory of World War II is represented in museums, monuments, and memorial complexes in Belarus, including materials related to the partisan movement. The title reflects two important themes: the heroic image of the war — victory and the exploits of the partisans — and the profound collective trauma associated with the enormous loss of life, burned villages, the Holocaust, and the occupation.
The author analyzes how the state, local communities, and historians influenced the way society remembers the war at different periods. She challenges the notion that Belarus has a single, unchanging version of the memory of the war. Archival materials show that both during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, this memory was diverse, depended on circumstances, and was often used for political purposes.
