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Russia rolls out 'training' in schools aimed at training kids in weapon assembly
Russia-Ukraine War: Russia's education minister Sergey Kravtsov said on Wednesday that the course will be added to the Russian school curriculum. teach children how to assemble and disassemble firearms
Soviet-era basic military training will be reinstated in high schools amidst the war in Ukraine, a repot said citing Russian education minister. The "initial military training" program will teach children how to assemble and disassemble firearms, how to provide first aid, and how to respond to a nuclear or chemical attack.
Russia's education minister Sergey Kravtsov said on Wednesday that the course will be added to the Russian school curricula in the next academic year, state-run news agency TASS reported.
"It will be introduced in schools starting from the next academic year. Now it is being drafted and after January 1, it will begin to be tested," Sergey Kravtsov said.
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This comes as Sergei Mironov, the head of the A Just Russia party, told Russian media that the course "would systematically prepare citizens for a possible confrontation with the enemy."
An article in the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, titled "Schoolchildren will get to grips with assault rifles," said that Russian parents were unhappy about the new program, Newsweek reported.
"We must prepare our children, especially in school, not for war, but for a peaceful happy life," a Muscovite named Galina said.
"There is no place for basic military training and militarized physical education in the 21st century," she added.
The article notes that when the classes were in place, schoolchildren would have to assemble and disassemble assault rifles at speed and they would also have shooting practice and put on gas masks, Newsweek reported.
