In a small city in Kyiv Oblast, tenth grader Alina Marynenko simply beat her total class to be essentially the most correct shooter on an AK-47 simulator.
"Fourteen out of fifteen! I set a document! We beat the boys!" Marynenko yells out to her class.
Marynenko and her classmates fired the simulated weapon throughout a “Protection of Ukraine” lesson, an experimental course a part of a wider instructional reform handed after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The course has been a part of the Ukrainian college curriculum since Soviet occasions, additionally recognized through the years as "Pre-Conscription Coaching" and "Protection of the Homeland." If earlier than 2022, the topic was seen as out of date, hardly taken critically by college students who at occasions noticed it extra as a possibility to goof off, Russia’s all-out aggression has given it a brand new life.
The reform, launched in 2024, has outfitted almost 600 school rooms at colleges which have volunteered to take part within the trial section with new gear from first assist coaching kits, interactive whiteboards and computer systems, to drone simulators. The brand new program shall be obligatory throughout all colleges in 2027.
The authors of the reform and its proponents are fast to tell apart the “Protection of Ukraine” from its counterpart in Russia, the place an identical obligatory college program returned fundamental navy coaching to the curriculum after the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
To distance itself from what many take into account to be Russia’s makes an attempt at militarizing its youth, the brand new course in Ukraine contains subjects corresponding to civics, geopolitics, and historical past, along with weapons coaching on simulators.
"Each citizen has levers to affect sure processes in our society, the navy, the state basically — in every single place. And the talents the kids purchase (in these lessons) can be utilized in civilian life as nicely," Volodymyr Komlyk, a reserve officer within the Ukrainian Armed Forces and trainer of the “Protection of Ukraine” course in Kyiv Oblast course.
"Ukraine must be defended not solely within the trenches."
A relic of the previous
In Soviet occasions up till the reform, the course was divided by gender. Whereas boys skilled for potential navy service, women discovered first assist and the fundamentals of drugs.
Earlier than getting into the classroom, boys must line as much as greet the course trainer with a salute or hearken to the nationwide anthem.
In a unique classroom, women handled outdated rubber tourniquets and bandages. Impractical, and at occasions unscientific, the data the ladies discovered would hardly save anybody on the entrance line right now.
Textbooks have been usually stuffed with outdated data. The lessons have been often taught by P.E., biology, or humanities lecturers who at occasions needed to depend on their very own expertise in instructing the topic.
"Once I was in school, the trainer would come to class, open a web page in a course e-book, after which his telephone would ring. He labored as a taxi driver, and sometimes, he would get referred to as in. We might sit alone and browse from our textbook," Komlyk instructed the Kyiv Unbiased.
The general perspective towards the category meant it was usually skipped by college students, lawmaker Inna Sovsun, one of many authors of the reform, instructed the Kyiv Unbiased. The difficulty was each a scarcity of skilled lecturers and the Soviet curriculum, she mentioned.
Sovsun mentioned the principle objective of the change was to take away every part associated to outdated Soviet military rules from the course supplies. It additionally did away with separating the scholars by gender. The transfer didn’t sit nicely with opponents who felt women shouldn’t be studying navy fundamentals, Sovsun mentioned.
"Throughout work with focus teams, one of many lecturers made the purpose that women shouldn’t be taught to shoot as a result of they don’t have sufficient power of their fingers to drag the set off," Sovsun mentioned.
Apart from merging women' and boys' lessons, this system additionally added introductory sections on drones, in addition to up to date models on marksmanship coaching, terrain orienteering, disaster response, and the fundamentals of nationwide safety and protection of Ukraine, amongst different subjects.
This system’s backers preserve they don’t seem to be aiming to coach 16 and 17-year-olds to be troopers, however getting ready them for a actuality the place Russian aggression is ongoing, with no clear finish in sight.
"Are you able to think about what number of weapons at the moment are within the arms of the navy who shall be returning dwelling, the place kids reside?” Sovsun mentioned, in reference to the significance of understanding the best way to correctly deal with weapons.
"I’m additionally a mother. I don't need to put together my kids for navy service, however it’s my objective as a mom to ensure they know the best way to defend themselves in order that Russia can’t invade once more sooner or later, and this information isn’t even wanted.”
From idea to follow
Because the bell rings, the kids head downstairs to a classroom that additionally serves as a shelter — as an alternative of desks, chairs are strewn throughout the room, which has been divided up into totally different zones for group actions and drone and taking pictures simulators.
Komlyk works with 350 kids from the tenth and eleventh grades. Classes are scheduled over 12 days a month, and kids spend the complete college day on the location. Komlyk's college hosts its college students and people from close by smaller settlements. The title of the city the place the college is situated will not be being disclosed for safety causes.
"We now have merged some lessons in order that not more than 24 pupils are in every. Sadly, many kids don’t make it to class due to air raid alerts," Komlyk mentioned.
On this specific day, there have been no air raid alerts, so the category was full as the scholars performed a recreation to be taught concerning the ideas of how economies and states develop whereas others skilled on simulators.
"You must be very cautious when flying. The drone may be very delicate. I wouldn't say that it's a lot more durable to function this controller. I believe it's extra a matter of the drone itself. It's very quick," mentioned scholar Oleksandr Miestiechkin, as he tried to maintain the FPV (first-person-view) drone within the air.
The simulator will not be just like the one utilized in actual navy coaching. The one objective is to beat neon-colored obstacles. The identical goes for the taking pictures simulator: kids use toy weapons with out ammunition to shoot at shifting or stationary targets, and a pc data the outcomes.
"I requested the kids why we would have liked this topic within the first lesson. A lot of them answered, 'For going to the ditch at 18,’" Komlyk mentioned.
"I requested the kids why we would have liked this topic within the first lesson. A lot of them answered, 'For going to the ditch at 18.’"
"I defined that Ukraine must be defended not solely on the entrance line. It may be finished within the public, political, media, or cultural sectors. The statements voiced by the kids are a consequence of the outdated strategy to instructing this topic," the trainer added.
Pupil Arianna Safronova mentioned certainly one of her favourite actions is the sport "Two International locations," which goals to present kids a fundamental understanding of what elements result in the prosperity or collapse of a state.
"We at the moment are studying what a group is, its worth and significance, and who we’re," Safronova mentioned, however added that she considers first assist to be a very powerful block of the course as Russia’s struggle continues.
Militarizing Russia’s youth
In the meantime, in 2024, the Russian state launched a compulsory self-discipline for center and highschool referred to as the "Fundamentals of Safety and Protection of the Motherland.” The brand new course changed the course "Fundamentals of Life Security" (FLS), returning fundamental navy coaching to the curriculum.
For about 60 years, Soviet schoolchildren assembled and disassembled assault rifles, discovered the best way to placed on gasoline masks, and offered first assist throughout the classes of "Primary Army Coaching" (BMT). This topic was faraway from the college curriculum within the late Eighties and changed with FLS.
Discussions on its return have been raised firstly of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Sergei Mironov, chief of the Simply Russia — For Fact celebration, mentioned in 2022 that the resumption of BMT would assist "systematically put together residents for a potential confrontation with the enemy." The course can also be supposed to show highschool college students the best way to use weapons and assist make use of struggle veterans who fought in Ukraine, in accordance with Mironov.
The subjects for the revised course have been developed in cooperation with the Russian Protection Ministry, with reserve lieutenant colonel Yuriy Kostikin from the Moscow Suvorov College main the reform, in accordance with the pro-Kremlin newspaper Lenta.
As early as the primary lesson, kids ought to be taught how the Russian military was shaped and that "navy service is the obligation and obligation of each man,” Kostikin mentioned. Youngsters will be taught concerning the precept of unity of command within the navy and should internalize that "the commander is all the time proper," he mentioned.
The youngsters may also go on several-day camps to follow their newly acquired abilities in a hands-on setting, studying the best way to dig trenches, navigate the terrain, and survive in hostile situations.
This system in Russia requires kids to memorize navy rules, in addition to to obey the instructions of "Consideration" and "Stand comfortable." The up to date course is obligatory just for boys, whereas women can decide to review drugs.
Whereas Russia solely made this topic obligatory in 2024, many Russian kids have already been studying these abilities in different varieties, in accordance with Jade McGlynn, a Leverhulme EC Researcher within the Warfare Research division at King's School London.
Army and patriotic golf equipment, in addition to ideological actions for youth, are widespread in Russia. Essentially the most well-known is the Younger Military Cadets Nationwide Motion ("Younger Military"), which is subordinated to Russia's Protection Ministry. Established in 2016, the "Younger Military " is now sanctioned by the European Union, the U.S., Canada, and Switzerland resulting from its militarization of youngsters.
McGlynn famous that Russia is making vital efforts to militarize youthful era of Russians, as they’re fairly susceptible and simply influenced by totally different views of their age.
Whether or not college students are even all in favour of navy coaching is regardless of, McGlynn says, because the Russian state goes to size to make sure the curiosity emerges.
"The extra you realize about one thing, the extra probably you'll develop into all in favour of it," she mentioned.
Russia has aimed its efforts to militarize younger folks in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine as nicely. Russia’s proxies there have launched cadet lessons, held occasions corresponding to "Holidays with the Russian Guard," and overtly demonize Ukraine and the federal government in Kyiv.
"All (Ukrainian) kids in occupation who've lived by means of the struggle are going to be successfully militarized anyway simply by having to develop up in such a horror," McGlynn mentioned.
"All (Ukrainian) kids in occupation who've lived by means of the struggle are going to be successfully militarized anyway simply by having to develop up in such a horror."
"This isn’t nearly coaching kids for struggle, in Russia's case. There’s a deeply ideological, genocidal ingredient of destroying their Ukrainian identification as nicely."
"It's very arduous to destroy an individual's identification. However the kind of strain that Ukrainian kids are positioned beneath throughout the formative interval of their self-realization implies that, sadly, there’s a robust chance that Russia’s efforts could possibly be efficient."
In accordance with the Ukrainian authorities's official database, over 20,000 Ukrainian kids have been displaced to Russian-occupied territories or Russia for the reason that full-scale invasion. Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets has recommended that this quantity could possibly be a lot larger — almost 150,000.
The Ukrainian authorities, which has acknowledged the deportation of youngsters as genocide in opposition to the Ukrainian folks, continues to work to deliver them dwelling. But, an equally nice problem is to guard Ukrainian youth on Ukraine-controlled territories from Russian affect, which might pose an much more vital menace sooner or later.
"We’ll by no means utterly eradicate the Russian affect. It is going to all the time comply with us someplace on social media or whereas touring worldwide," mentioned Arianna Safronova, the Ukrainian tenth grader.
"Each citizen should understand that they’re Ukrainians. Ukrainian tradition exists, and our heritage may be very highly effective, similar to our nation."
The Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko