The Ministry of Digital Development will spend ₽7,7 billion on the Internet with restrictions for schools and election commissions

Main article: Digitalization of education in Russia

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2025: The Ministry of Digital Development will spend ₽7,7 billion on the Internet with restrictions for schools and election commissions

The Ministry of Digital Development will spend ₽7,7 billion to provide Internet provider services for Russian schools, colleges and election commissions for the whole of 2025 with the blocking of childfree portals and resources with memes. The service will be provided by Rostelecom. This became known at the end of May 2025 from the data of the unified information system in the field of procurement.

As reported by "," Sheets the purchase is among the top 15 largest government purchases for 2025, excluding the financial, construction and pharmaceutical industries. The data was calculated by the search and analytical system Tenderplan"."

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Фото: Freepik

The Ministry of Digital Development made similar purchases from Rostelecom in previous years: a total of ₽7,5 billion in 2024 and ₽6,2 billion in 2023. The customer of the ISP is the Ministry of Digital Development according to the purchasing card.

According to the terms of reference for the purchase, access to materials included in the list of extremist materials should be prohibited on the Internet for schoolchildren and college students. The entrance will be closed to sites from the Roskomnadzor registers.

Access will be limited to resources prohibited under the law "On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development." Such information includes content that induces suicide, drug use, justification of violence, as well as promoting pedophilia and non-traditional sexual relations.

Children using the school Internet will not be able to go to porn sites, game portals, social networks and resources with memes. Restrictions for schoolchildren should not apply to Internet access for teachers and administrations of educational institutions.

In schools, access to resources with childfree ideology will be blocked according to the terms of reference. Propaganda of childlessness on the Internet, media, films and advertising has been banned in Russia since November 2024.^[1]

2024

The Russian government has allocated 3.7 billion rubles to launch the Internet in schools, colleges and election commissions

At the end of August 2024 Government of the Russian Federation , it allocated more than 3.7 billion rubles to continue providing schools, colleges and election commissions with high-speed access to. Thanks to to the Internet this funding, it will be possible to continue to provide Internet access to at least 49.2 thousand state and municipal educational organizations and election commissions in the regions, the press service of the Cabinet noted. The issue of providing educational organizations with high-speed Internet access was discussed  on July 15, 2024 at a strategic session on the development of a new national project "Youth and Children." 

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to conduct high-speed Internet in Russian schools

The President Russia Vladimir Putin instructed to conduct high-speed Internet to Russian schools. The head states announced this on February 20, 2024 at a meeting on the implementation of the school overhaul program.

I ask you to complete the work on providing schools not just with the Internet, but with high-speed access to the World Wide Web as soon as possible, which allows you to support modern programs and digital products, the president said.

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Фото: Kremlin.ru

According to him, during the overhaul, it is necessary to "additionally equip the rooms of physics, chemistry, biology, computer science." Most of the equipment should be made in Russia, the president added.

Putin also noted that the tasks solved within the framework of the federal program for the overhaul of schools are much wider than the "basic" painting of walls, updating engineering systems and facades. It is aimed at creating "a modern school space for young citizens of our country." Projects for the renovation of schools need to be implemented "in all regions, in cities and in the countryside," the Russian leader concluded.

By February 2024, Rostelecom is the only contractor for the provision of Internet access services to general education schools, secondary vocational educational institutions, as well as regional and territorial election commissions, which are usually located in schools, in 2024.

According to Russian Deputy Head of the Ministry of Digital Development Oleg Kachanov, the department hopes to continue connecting classes of Russian schools to Wi-Fi networks by 2024.

This is important, in my opinion, because there are no networks - there is no content delivery, - he noted, adding that by the beginning of 2023 there were about 10 thousand schools with Wi-Fi in classrooms in the country.[2]

Mishustin appointed Rostelecom the only provider of Internet access services for election commissions and schools

On January 23, 2024, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree appointing Rostelecom as the only provider of Internet access services for secondary schools, secondary vocational educational institutions, as well as for regional and territorial election commissions. In addition, the operator will be responsible for data protection tools and tools to restrict access to prohibited information.

It is reported that Rostelecom in 2024 will provide these customers with access to state, municipal and other information systems. The Operator may engage subcontractors and co-contractors in the performance of works, but provided that he will provide at least 10% of the specified services by his own resources.

Mikhail Mishustin appointed Rostelecom the only provider of Internet access services for secondary schools

As an additional condition for the execution of state contracts, the use of telecommunication equipment is mainly of Russian production. The agreement on the provision of these services "Rostelecom" must be concluded with the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation.

The infrastructure for connecting socially significant objects to the Internet, which includes schools and election commissions, was created as part of the Digital Economy national program. As Rostelecom notes, the implementation of this large-scale project allows the population to use high-quality modern digital services even in the most remote corners of the country. At the same time, in October 2022, the head of the Ministry of Ministry of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev announced that the program to provide Russian schools with the Internet via Wi-Fi was being frozen. Its resumption will depend on the practice of using wireless networks in educational institutions. As of the end of 2022, full-fledged Wi-Fi operates in almost 9 thousand schools.^[3]

2023

Connecting more than 47,000 organizations of general and secondary vocational education

Rostelecom On February 28, 2023, the company "" announced that it had connected data more than 47,000 the Russian schools, colleges, technical schools, lyceums and other organizations of general and secondary professional to the unified transmission network (ESPD). formations Access to educational and - Internet resource resources is organized through secure channels communications using automatic end-to-end enciphering data, which ensures the security and confidentiality of transmitted information. In 2023, work on joining educational organizations to the ESPD will continue. Work is being carried out within the framework of the federal project "Information Infrastructure" of the national program "."Digital economy of Russia

ESPD is a virtual network for accessing socially significant objects to state information systems and the Internet. The core of the network is a content filtering service for secure access to educational and information resources. The system provides access to all educational sites and services necessary for training. At the same time, sites banned by Roskomnadzor are blocked, as well as resources containing extremist and pornographic materials, information about drugs, calls for suicide, cyberbullying and other topics dangerous to the psyche of children. To combat malware, an antivirus is built into the content filtering system, which scans incoming traffic and blocks infected files and sites. All this allows you to reliably protect students from Internet threats.

In 2022, Ministry of Digital Development and Rostelecom conducted Internet access to all schools in Russia. Now the network in educational organizations is reliably protected and excludes access to prohibited resources. But just spending the Internet is not enough, it is important to monitor the quality of communication, not to allow a critical decrease in speed. Specialists of the situational center of the Ministry of Digital Development round the clock keep track of quality of a signal. The main task of continuous monitoring is to detect and fix the problem before the user noticed it. If the problems were identified by school staff, they can call the situation center, where they will be helped to solve the problem at any time, "said Dmitry Kim, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation.

Rostelecom is actively involved in the implementation of programs for the digitalization of socially significant objects. An important task for the company was to connect educational institutions to the secure Internet through a single data network. This allows you to create a full-fledged protected digital educational environment. Protecting the younger generation from illegal content and cyber risks is also part of the alliance's work to protect children in the digital environment, organized by IT companies. We continuously develop the content filtering system in SPD: we increase the speed of detecting new malicious resources, increase the depth and accuracy of analysis, increase performance, and ensure ease of use. Round-the-clock network monitoring also allows you to implement a high level of protection against DDoS attacks and malicious software, - said Valery Ermakov, senior vice president of Rostelecom for work with corporate and state segments.

SPD provides teachers and students with access to the Internet, as well as cryptographic data protection when working with regional or federal information systems. The data transfer rate is at least 100 Mbps in urban schools and at least 50 Mbps in rural educational organizations. All facilities connected to EPDS are provided with monitoring of communication channels and quality of provided communication services. There is a 24-hour technical support service.

"Rostelecom" received 0.5 billion rubles for connecting schools and election commissions to the Internet

On January 9, 2023, it became known that the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation signed a contract with Rostelecom for 520.9 million rubles to provide Internet access to schools and election commissions in the regions of Russia.

According to TASS, with reference to materials published on the public procurement website, educational organizations, election commissions of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and territorial commissions located in the territories of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation (with the exception of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol) will receive a service for "providing access to state, municipal, other information systems and to the information and telecommunication Internet."

Services should also be provided: to protect data processed and transmitted when accessing state, municipal, other information systems and the Internet; to ensure the restriction of access to information, the dissemination of which is prohibited in the Russian Federation, and to information that causes harm to the health and (or) development of children for educational organizations.

In addition, services for monitoring and ensuring communication security and the organization of connection to a single data transmission network of educational organizations and election commissions are included.

The contract was concluded on December 26, 2022, its execution period is until December 31, 2023.

In October 2022, the head of the Ministry of Ministry of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev reported that the program to provide schools with the Internet via Wi-Fi was being frozen. According to him, at the time almost 9 thousand schools have already gained access to the Internet via Wi-Fi, and the issue of resuming the program will depend on the practice of use.

The infrastructure for connecting socially significant objects to the Internet, which includes schools and election commissions, was created as part of the Digital Economy national program. As Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko reported, all socially significant objects, of which there are about 76 thousand in Russia, were connected to the network in 2022.^[4]

2021: Russia creates a single data network for schools

In November 2021, it became known about the creation in Russia of a unified data transmission network for secondary schools. The project is being implemented by Rostelecom, said Mikhail Oseevsky, president of the company. Read more here.

2020: Rostelecom is involved in launching the Internet in schools and election commissions. Contract - 10.3 billion rubles

In August 2020, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications signed a contract with Rostelecom, under the terms of which the operator will launch the Internet in schools and territorial election committees. For its services, Rostelecom will receive 10.3 billion rubles, and more than half of this amount (6.7 billion rubles) will be allocated from the federal budget by the end of 2020.

The contract, which became part of the federal project "Information Infrastructure" of the national program "Digital Economy," provides for Internet access in schools, colleges, technical schools, lyceums and other organizations of general and secondary vocational education.

In addition, Rostelecom will have to ensure constant monitoring of the quality of services, maintaining this quality at the proper level, protection against DDoS attacks and firewall, restricting access to information prohibited in Russia, and cryptographic protection services for communication channels.

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications attracted Rostelecom to launch the Internet in schools and election commissions for 10.3 billion rubles

Rostelecom will build a Unified Data Transmission Network (ESRD) using fiber-optic communication lines. The SPD should have at least one attachment point in each constituent entity of the Russian Federation, be isolated from the global network, and Internet channels should not be used in its construction. In addition, within the framework of the ESPD, it is planned to organize a number of virtual private networks (VPNs ), which, in addition to Internet access, will also ensure the transmission of data from election commissions to access the Vybory state information system (state automated system ).

In total, it is planned to connect more than 6 thousand urban and 20 thousand rural schools, 85 regional and 2.7 thousand territorial election commissions to the Internet using the ESPD. Another 7.08 thousand municipal educational organizations in cities and 7.78 thousand - in rural areas can be connected additionally.^[5]

2013: The challenge of increasing the proportion of schools with internet access above 2 Mbps

In January 2013, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev set the task to significantly increase the share of schools connected to the Internet at speeds above 2 Mbps, said Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov.

According to Nikiforov, a number of schools need to be connected to the Internet at a speed of 100 Mbps. "I believe that it is necessary to determine the size of schools (the number of students), starting from which the state should guarantee their connection via optics of 100 Mbps," the minister said.

2011: Transfer of Internet payments in schools to regional budgets

Ministry of Education and Science, 2011

2007: The Ministry of Communications reports on the connection of all schools to the Internet at a speed of 128 kilobits per second

Providing access to regional educational institutions to the Internet was one of the first large-scale IT projects in Russian education, which was completed not only effectively, but also ahead of schedule. Already in December 2007, it was announced that Russian signalmen had prematurely completed work on the internetisation of educational institutions of the country of^[6] of the^[6] ahead of^[6]. This was announced by the acting director of the department of state policy in the field of infocommunication technologies of the Ministry of Information and Communications Yevgeny Vasiliev. According to him, within the framework of the priority national project "Education," 52 thousand 752 educational institutions of Russia are connected to Internet services. As Vasiliev noted, all schools, as well as correctional institutions for minors and cadet schools are connected to the Internet.

He said that according to the plan, the connection was supposed to be completed in December last year, but in fact 95% of educational institutions received access to the Internet by the beginning of the school year, that is, in September, the remaining 5% were connected in October. Thus, by mid-autumn 2007, all educational institutions in Russia were connected to the Internet via broadband access at a guaranteed speed of 128 kilobits per second.

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