Russia to Introduce Basic Military Education in Schools Next Year - Education Minister

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian schools will have military training 101 on schedule starting next academic year, Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov said on Wednesday.

Russian media reported on Tuesday that the education ministry was drawing up a school module on basic military training.

"It will be in schools starting next academic year. Now it is being prepared, we will prepare it before January 1, then it will be tested and schools will be able to use it starting next year," Kravtsov told reporters.

Students will study military exercises, personal protective equipment and first aid, weapons and rules for handling them, the basics of shooting, the use and device of hand grenades. In addition, high school students will learn how to operate in modern combined-arms combat, study the composition and armament of a motorized rifle squad on an infantry fighting vehicle, engineering equipment of a soldier, as well as trench digging techniques.

It was a proposal of several Russian lawmakers during the fall session that basic military training be returned to the school education system. The Russian Defense Ministry supported the initiative and found it appropriate to allot at least 140 hours to the new module during the last two years of schooling.