Teachers from across Belarus have been arrested or summoned for interrogation by the country’s State Security Committee (KGB-RB) for joining an educational project, the local Viasna Human Rights Centre reported on Wednesday.

The project, named “Adukavanka,” is aimed at improving the skills of education workers in Belarus. The project offers educators express courses, lesson builders, educational chatbots and downloadable materials.On September 17, it became known that the KGB-RB had designated Adukavanka as an “extremist formation” at the end of August. The project reported this on its Telegram channel, saying; “We are sad that making education better is an extremist activity in Belarus.” The statement called on all its subscribers in Belarus to unsubscribe from its social networks.

The arrested teachers participated in the project’s Telegram chat, where they discussed issues related to conducting lessons, technologies in teaching, and other education-related topics.

The new wave of detentions is part of a widespread suppression of dissent and independent media in Belarus that dates back to the first term of long-ruling President Alexander Lukashenko. Efforts to suppress dissent intensified sharply in 2020 when Lukashenkо won a sixth term as president despite disputed presidential election results. 169 entities, including Viasna, have been recognized as “extremist groups” since 2021 by the State Security Committee and the Interior Ministry in Belarus. Moreover, more than 65,000 people, including the country’s leading cultural figures and human rights defenders, have been arrested in the crackdown so far. Most significant opposition figures are incarcerated or have fled the country.