Behavior Grades to Return to Russian Schools in 2026

Starting September 1, 2026, schools in Arkhangelsk and across Russia will begin issuing grades for behavior. All students from first to eleventh grade will receive them. Fontanka.ru asked its readers to share what behavior grades they received and what they got up to.

What is known about the return of behavior grades to Russian schools?

Recently, a draft order from the Russian Ministry of Education appeared on the official legal information portal. RBC drew attention to the amendments reintroducing behavior grades in schools. The ministry officially confirmed this information the day before. The assessment of schoolchildren«s behavior will begin on September 1, 2026 – everywhere.

The initiative to reintroduce these grades did not come out of nowhere. An experiment with them began in 2025, but only in some regions of Russia. Back in late August, St. Petersburg Vice Governor Irina Potekhina, who oversees education, said that many teachers support such an idea: in their opinion, a behavior grade «would greatly help teachers in those, fortunately, not very frequent cases when parents don’t listen.»

The Ministry of Education has now defined key criteria by which schoolchildren«s behavior (including students with disabilities) will be assessed relatively soon. These include, in particular:

• discipline adherence;

• social interaction;

• personal qualities;

• academic engagement.

How exactly grades for behavior will be assigned based on the above criteria is not specified. For now, the experiment is being conducted in 89 schools in Russia. Each of them has chosen one of three proposed models for assessing behavior, and after the experiment ends, the Ministry of Education will select one model to be introduced in schools from September 1, 2026.

Deputy Minister of Education of Russia Olga Koludarova, in a conversation with RBC, spoke about the high hopes placed on the behavior grading system. According to her, assessing behavior is intended to strengthen the school«s educational role, instill respect for traditional values, and protect the honor and dignity of the teacher.

«The introduction of behavior grades in schools is an important issue that concerns not only discipline but also the formation of the student»s personality,« said Deputy Education Minister Koludarova.

What did students get failing grades for behavior?

Probably almost everyone encountered behavior grades during their school years. Yes, they were abolished in 1989. Since then, behavior grades no longer affected the diploma, but could attract the attention of concerned parents of students whose behavior at school left much to be desired. Readers of Fontanka.ru shared such memories with us.

«I got my first failing grade in school precisely for behavior. I was active, loved to run around, fool around – the school forbade it. The failing grade accompanied me until ninth grade, when such grades were abolished. I think this constant pressure largely influenced my disregard for rules,» shares one reader.

«I got a 2 in geography for looking at an aquarium during class. There were several in the classroom. Greetings from the Pushkin school in the Petrogradsky District,» recalls one reader.

«A failing grade and parents called to school. Oh, the things we got up to! At ten years old, we learned what a water hammer is. We found dry ice – it was available in every ice cream kiosk back then – and flushed it down the school toilet. It was interesting!» writes another Fontanka.ru commentator.

«From fourth grade, I had a failing grade for behavior, in ninth grade I was even held back a year. And then – two higher educations, work as a director at LenSpetsSMU (Leningrad Special Construction and Installation Administration), my own business. What was worth a failing grade in school played out differently in adult life,» says a reader.

There were also opposite examples.

«I studied very poorly, but I always had an A for behavior,» admits another reader.

Reasons for failing grades sometimes looked completely absurd.

«In second grade, I got a 2 for behavior because during PE I climbed a tree,» recalls another reader.

Refuses to go to Artek. Remarks for bad behavior

«Technology class. At the beginning of the lesson, I got into a fight with a classmate using rulers – for which I got a remark in my diary. A little later in the same lesson, there was a test. As a result, I got a wonderful entry in my diary: »Fights during class. 5.« So I live with this historical document,» shared a reader.

«I ate a bun during class – and as punishment, I spent the lesson in the cafeteria. I had some sort of gastronomic remarks constantly. The buns were tasty, but for some reason I was to blame. Somehow unfair,» recalls a former schoolgirl.

«I rolled my diary into a tube and sang into it during class. And then another remark: »Parents, feed your daughter in the morning. During class, she covers herself with a book and eats bread.« Apparently, creativity and appetite interfered with studying simultaneously,» wrote a reader.

«I still remember an entry from around 1974, I was in fourth or fifth grade then: »Parents! Your son refuses to go on a trip to Artek!« And I never went – I hated those camps, already had experience,» says a reader.

Prove it«s not for knowledge

Fontanka.ru staff also recalled their school cases.

«In elementary school, I finished eating corn puffs during recess, and during class, I popped the bag. It was loud, the teacher wrote a remark in my diary. My parents laughed at home. In middle school, I got a failing grade from my Russian language and literature teacher for drawing during class. And from English class, I was once kicked out for standing up for a classmate. In response, I slammed the door so hard that the whitewash crumbled,» said an employee from the incidents department.

«In our case, the elementary school teacher gave grades for behavior on her own initiative. And I once had an entry: »Waited for a classmate with a mop in hand and unclear motives.« Well, and a failing grade,» recalled someone from the business department.

The author could not recall one particularly vivid case when he received a bad grade for behavior. He remembered for life his history teacher Elena Konstantinovna. She never raised her voice, and she didn«t give official failing grades for behavior. However, she had one phrase that sent shivers down his spine.

It sounded something like this: «Danilov, I»ll give you a failing grade, then prove it«s not for knowledge.» There was no desire to argue.

And in what situations did you get failing grades for behavior during your school years? Share your stories in the comments.