Teachers and parents are asked not to use whatsapp messenger and other foreign
The Ministry of Education banned teachers from using WhatsApp and other foreign messengers in the educational process or in the workplace. Instead, it is recommended to switch to the use of “VK Messenger”. Some schools are persuaded to transfer parent chats from WhatsApp, but the Ministry of Education claims that it did not give such instructions. Experts believe that these are private initiatives related to the inclusion of meta, the company that owns the messenger, in the list of extremist organizations.
The Ministry of Education and Science of the Khabarovsk Territory and the administration of the Kursk region told Kommersant that the Ministry of Education demanded that the regions limit the use of foreign messengers as part of the educational process in schools. The regions clarified that the ministry sent a letter on August 26, it said that the regions should “provide testing” of the use of VK Messenger and the educational poster Spheres (developed by a joint venture of VK and Rostelecom).
The Ministry of Education of the Nizhny Novgorod region told Kommersant that school employees were advised to abandon the use of foreign services at workplaces – WhatsApp, Viber, Skype, Google Drive, etc.: “Restrictions will help eliminate the possibility of leakage of confidential information.”
They did not specify whether we are talking about federal recommendations or the region’s own initiative.
To limit the use of foreign messengers is recommended not only to teachers, but also to parents, participants of parent chats in a number of regions told Kommersant. In the Nizhny Novgorod region, teachers tell parents that they need to “exclude the possibility of using foreign Internet services,” justifying this by threats to information security. In the Amur region, teachers create groups in Telegram for parents, although sometimes the latter continue to communicate on WhatsApp.
The Ministry of Education “Kommersant” confirmed the distribution of recommendations not to use foreign messengers, but stressed that they relate exclusively to work with the state system “My School” and its components.
The ministry assured that they do not regulate the sphere and channels of communication of parents.
Back in 2021, the authorities thought about transferring school teachers and university teachers to Russian messengers as part of the state program “Creating additional conditions for the development of the information technology industry”.
The concept involves the development of e-mail services, instant messengers, audio and video conferencing, as well as a number of other digital services of Russian design. (see “Kommersant” of August 9, 2021). In September 2022, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Digitalization and VK concluded an agreement providing for the use of “VK Messenger”, “VK Zvonki” and “Mail Mail.ru” in schools as part of the implementation of the FSIS “My School”.
Parent chats are still conducted mainly in foreign messengers, VK CEO Vladimir Kiriyenko admitted on September 22 at the Kazan Digital Week forum.
His speech was devoted to state publications – confirmed official pages of state institutions in social networks, which by December 1 are obliged to appear at state bodies and organizations subordinate to them. In September, the government approved two social networks suitable for fulfilling this requirement: VKontakte and Odnoklassniki (both owned by VK). School pages account for 16% of the more than 12,000 state publics created by September, he noted.Kiriyenko’s.
The regulation of parent chats is more of a private initiative at the level of teachers or school principals than a consequence of the letter of the Ministry of Education, says Karen Ghazaryan, director general of the Institute for Internet Research: “I suspect that it is based on the inclusion of Meta (the owner of WhatsApp . – “Kommersant”) in the list of extremist organizations.” At the same time, WhatsApp has been serving teachers for more than a year to solve work issues, correspond with parents and students, added Pavel Skripnichenko, head of the Kontur.Tolk and Kontur.Klass projects: “Its use is certainly a matter of habit.”