Public/private is said to constitute one of the main dichotomies in Western political and philosophical thought. When it comes to education, ‘public’ is often associated with democracy and inclusion, while ‘private’ is seen as threatening the idea of education as a public good. However, taking into consideration that public schools, especially in authoritarian societies, can promote illiberal values, such understandings of the concepts become less obvious. This paper seeks to explore the politics of public-private differentiation in the Russian and Belarusian educational contexts and thereby to trouble the assumptions about this dichotomy reproduced in much academic writing today.