The Ministry of Internal Affairs' report on the fight against illegal printing of textbooks has drawn criticism from parents of Dagestani schoolchildren.

In Makhachkala, the operation of a printing house was stopped, where educational materials were illegally printed for further sale, reported the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan. Parents of Dagestani schoolchildren, commenting on the agency's report on social media, noted that this printing house was helping to solve the problem of the lack of textbooks, as schools do not adequately provide them for children and books have to be purchased independently.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on September 12, parents of Dagestani schoolchildren criticized the Ministry of Education and Science of the republic after the agency stated that the shortage of textbooks was related to the increase in the number of students, and pointed out that in the absence of books in schools, they are freely sold in markets. According to the ministry, school libraries lacked more than 6.4 million textbooks worth over 5.1 billion rubles. On September 9, parents of schoolchildren in Makhachkala, Kaspiysk, and the Novolaksky district reported that children were not provided with a complete set of free textbooks and families had to buy books themselves.

In Makhachkala, police officers stopped the illegal production of educational materials intended for further distribution, including through a marketplace, reported on October 4 in her Telegram channel "Criminal Chronicle" the press secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan Gayana Garieva.

"A printing house was identified, whose tenant illegally produced educational materials for further distribution, including through a popular marketplace," Garieva wrote.

On October 5, the agency's report was published by the Instagram*-public "makhachkala_", which has about 254 thousand users. As of 07:45 Moscow time on October 6, this post received 103 likes and 78 comments.

Commentators, identifying themselves as parents of Dagestani schoolchildren, complained that schools do not provide children with the necessary textbooks and parents have to buy books themselves. "There are no books in schools. Every year, parents buy half of the textbooks. They should deal with this instead," wrote aminastylist83.

"What a joke! There are no books in schools, and they caught these villains. Maybe no one wants our children to have books? They should have gone to the Ministry of Education and asked why there are no books in schools?" wrote vkarata.

"There are no books anyway, leave them alone. There are also no books in the markets, the school does not issue them. Cover something else," wrote dr.djanet.

Other commentators pointed out that the printing house helped to fill the shortage of textbooks and made books more accessible. "Thanks to them, we at least buy these books a little cheaper, they found someone to cover," noted khadizhat_2712.

"Underground? Let them print, there are not enough books anyway, we have to buy from underground sources rather than expensive ones from Wildberries and Ozon," stated abu_ahmad_50.

"Thank you for being there, thanks to them textbooks are cheaper," noted ramazan87888.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that the problem of the lack of free textbooks in Dagestan has been relevant for a long time. Thus, on September 1, 2025, parents of schoolchildren in Makhachkala and Kaspiysk complained that they had to buy books again. "The situation with textbooks is terrible, almost all schools lack them, and this happens every year," said a resident of Makhachkala Albina to a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".

On September 9, 2023, parents of Dagestani schoolchildren criticized the authorities for the unresolved problem with textbooks. "They always wait for parents to buy books," noted a parent of a schoolchild.

On September 6, 2022, lawyer Musa Bek Ilyasov pointed out that the state is obliged to provide schoolchildren with textbooks. "Parents should not buy books, only workbooks," he told a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".