Raunchy TV Show Gives Kremlin Education Reforms a Boost

The Kremlin had a hard time getting teachers and parents to care about education reform.

Then a raunchy teen series debuted on state television.

The documentary-style "School" is breaking taboos by showing Moscow teens with emo hairstyles discussing their sex adventures and dragging on marijuana cigarettes in the schoolyard, a female teacher stalking a ninth-grade boy and girls fighting in the restroom.

The gritty, in-your-face show is forcing outraged teachers, parents, politicians and even Cossacks from the southern city of Kuban to ask: "Has the Russian public school system come to this?"

The answer is "yes," said Valeria Gai Germanika, the 25-year-old indie director behind the show, which debuted on Channel One state television in January but has been on hiatus for the past two weeks because of the Vancouver Olympics.

Germanika — whose emo-style appearance has not won her any favors with her critics — told The Moscow Times that the show simply depicted "the truth."

When asked about the political implications of the series, Germanika said she "doesn't care" and "doesn't follow the public's reaction."

But the show has proved a boon for the Kremlin by getting a lackadaisical public to take interest in its efforts to reform schools.

Just days after "School" premiered on Channel One, President Dmitry Medvedev declared 2010 as the Year of the Teacher in Russia and approved a set of education reforms dubbed "Our New School."

"I expect that the new year will become a year to launch a serious modernization of the education system and a year of positive changes," Medvedev said in making the announcements Jan. 21.

Three days after Medvedev's remarks, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was asked during a visit to Chuvashia State University about the television show that depicts "kids from a negative angle."

"Frankly, I haven't seen the series and don't watch it, just because I don't have enough time," Putin said, adding that he was aware of the debate about it.

Putin's remarks and Medvedev's silence have sent a clear signal that the series will not be shut down, despite the outcry.

Indeed, Education and Science Minister Andrei Fursenko offered mild support for the show earlier this month, saying it had helped attract attention to problems in the education system.

Kuban Cossacks had asked Fursenko and Culture Minister Alexander Avdeyev to pull the plug on the series in January.

Orthodox Patriarch Kirill said Wednesday that the show could provide an impetus for education reforms. "Sometimes we need to get very frightened to reconsider something," he said at a meeting of the Russian Education Academy, Interfax reported.

A teacher from Moscow School No. 945, where the series is filmed, criticized the show as a "hypernegative rave."

"The fact that the series is being shown during the Year of the Teacher is a humiliation," she said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

She said the school was not half as bad as depicted in the show and had agreed to provide its premises for the money that has allowed it to buy new furniture and computers.

"If they called it 'Teen' instead of 'School' and it didn't air on Channel One, it wouldn't have caused so much fuss," the teacher said.

A political significance appears to be attached to shows that premiere on Channel One because the channel has long served as a propaganda arm of the government, said Alexei Mukhin, an analyst at the Center for Political Information.

But, he said, this time it looks like an initially commercial project is unexpectedly providing the Kremlin with a welcome boost for its education reforms.

Channel One's online forum for "School" is overflowing with hundreds of angry comments from teachers and school directors who say the show discredits schools and teachers.

This is not the first time that television content has provoked public criticism. But it might be the first time that a wave of criticism has not pushed the authorities to intervene.

In 2008, prosecutors accused the 2x2 television channel of promoting religious intolerance with an episode of the U.S. cartoon "South Park" and negatively influencing children by airing "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy." The channel faced closure until widespread public support convinced the authorities to back off.

After the first episodes of "School" were broadcast in January, the head of City Hall's education department, Olga Larionova, told the Moscow City Duma that a television should focus on improving schools rather than their flaws.

"I see that extremely negative reviews from teachers and parents and students about the series have appeared on the Internet," Larionova said, Interfax reported. "There should be a regular program telling about the secrets of the city's best teachers and their students."

Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov has backed the idea of an alternative television series depicting smart and happy children and teachers to counter the negative imagery of "School."

The pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group has promised to conduct a survey in Moscow schools to learn whether the raw school routine in "School" is in fact an everyday reality.

About 65 percent of "School" viewers believe that it "truly reflects the problems of Russian schools," while 29 percent say it "discredits schools and teachers," according to a recent nationwide survey by the independent Levada Center.

Channel One said critics were ignoring the real-life problems of public schools. "Hypocritical statements that education has no problems are unconstructive for the country and will not result in any changes in the field," it said in a statement.

The channel promised that the 30-minute show would return to its twice-a-day broadcast in primetime on Monday after being on hiatus for two weeks during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The suspension had sparked hopes among critics that the show would be banned.

Channel One has been releasing new installments on the Internet until the series returns to its regular timetable.

Incidentally, the buzz surrounding the show has not won over viewers, and "School" had a middling ranking before going on hiatus, according to TNS Russia.

Pavel Bardin, director of "Russia-88," a mock documentary about skinheads and MTV's "Club" series, said at the end of the day "School" was just entertainment that might surpass most of the other fare being offered on television.

"Even if the show is closed, the problems in schools won't disappear," Bardin added.