Russia to Double Military Training Time in Schools

Russia to Double Military Training Time in Schools Russia is rewriting its school timetable with a war‑time logic: from September, half of a key safety subject will be turned over to military training, including drone skills. The classroom is being remodeled as a training ground long before conscription age kicks in.

What Moscow Says It’s Doing

The Education Ministry’s line is simple: expand what’s already there. Basic military training, currently about 20% of the course “Fundamentals of Safety and Defense of the Homeland” for grades 6–11, will jump to 50% starting September 1. Officials frame it as an upgrade of a subject that already included basic drills since 2023, when high‑schoolers were officially taught to fire a Kalashnikov, use grenades, and give first aid under fire.

A parallel ideological track is being laid: a new course, “Spiritual and Moral Culture of Russia,” will be introduced nationwide, supported by state‑produced documentaries about 83 soldiers who fought in Ukraine.

What Critics See

Independent and opposition‑leaning outlets cast the change less as curriculum reform and more as militarization of childhood. Novaya Gazeta Europe stresses that “the number of hours for initial military training for schoolchildren will increase 2.5 times,” highlighting how half the entire “Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland” program is now explicitly military.

Meduza underscores that the new basic military block includes “the study of drones” and practical training exercises, placing civilian education on a war footing. The Insider similarly notes that half of the former “Basics of Life Safety” lessons will now go to initial military training and that “students will study drones,” treating the rebrand of the subject as a political signal rather than a neutral name change.

The Common Ground

Across outlets, facts align: from September, basic military training in Russian schools will roughly double, drones are moving from the battlefield to the blackboard, and moral‑patriotic content is being hard‑wired into the school day. The real clash is over framing—defense preparedness versus deliberate preparation of a new generation for a long war.