Religious Rights as an Element of School Choice in Russia: Contemporary Contours of Law, Policy and Court Practice

Ch. 11. P. 133–150.

Smirnova M.

This chapter  explores the relevance of the phrase ‘school choice’ to the current situation in the Russian education system. Is ‘school choice’ a recognised right in Russian legislation and practice? If so, what are the legal, administrative, financial, organisational and other factors that preclude the full realisation of this right and how can these barriers be overcome? In an attempt to answer these questions and without aiming at providing a comprehensive review of education law and policies in Russia this chapter gives an overview of the legal framework for school choice in Russia, factual barriers to its full realisation and relevant recent cases of the Russian Constitutional Court, Supreme Court and ordinary courts of Russian regions on the issues of accessibility of schools to every child in Russia in the context of current education policy.

Keywords: межстрановое сравнительное исследование, свобода вероисповедания, comparative approach in Studies of religion, религия и право, comparative legal research, право на образование, right to education, международное и сравнительное образовательное право, religion and education, justiciability of the right to education

In book

Religion and Education: Tensions and Perspectives

Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers, 2017.