On March 22, marking the anniversary of the Khatyn massacre, Belarusian schools were advised to hold a unified lesson on the tragedy of Khatyn — one of the most painful chapters in the country’s history. However, the way this is being implemented raises concerns.
From as early as grades 1–4, children are introduced to detailed accounts of the tragedy, including that 149 people were killed in the fire, including 75 children, as well as distressing eyewitness testimonies.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Advisor on Education and Science, Pavel Tereshkovich, emphasizes that the issue is not the teaching of history itself but how it is presented:
“The older the children, the more resistant they are to propaganda. That is why ideology is now being pushed into kindergartens — and that is where it becomes truly alarming. The cult of Aliaksandr Lukashenka is taking on its most grotesque forms — almost resembling North Korea.
In recent weeks, I have reviewed many videos from universities, schools, and kindergartens. I got the impression that university students simply endure this — it does not really affect them. But it does impact younger children, especially when older students — participants in military-‘patriotic’ classes — come to them carrying weapons. There have even been cases where the prosecutor’s office visited kindergartens to talk about genocide. So the line has already been crossed. And this is a very serious problem”.
