Russia is reportedly reintroducing “basic military training” to the school curriculum from next year teaching young children how to assemble automatic rifles in a return to “Soviet-era school classes”. Boys and girls in Russian schools will be taught how to “get to grips with assault rifles”, according to a Russian newspaper, in a move that has divided opinions among locals. Reading out an extract from the paper, BBC Russia correspondent Steve Rosenberg reported that one Russian mother supported the move because it was important to be “prepared for the reality of today”, while another Muscovite said there was “no place” for military drills in schools and that they should be a place of “peace and happiness”.
Mr Rosenberg reported: “Today’s Russian papers leave me with the distinct feeling that there are some people in power here who want to drag Russia back in time, back to the past.
“Under the headline, ‘Schoolchildren will get to grips with assault rifles’, Moskovsky Komsomolets reports on the imminent return of a Soviet-era school class: ‘Basic Military Training’.
“[Mr Komsomolets] writes: ‘The Defence Ministry has supported the introduction of military training in schools and colleges. Those who studied in Soviet schools well remember having to assemble and disassemble assault rifles at speed.
“‘Luckily in those days, schoolgirls were not allowed manicures. They had shooting practice and put on gas masks.’
“The paper said: ‘Parents are divided on the militarisation of schools. Muscovite Olga Turenko, who has ten children, believes that kids must be prepared for the reality of today.
“‘But Muscovite Galina says there is no place for basic military training and militarised physical education in the 21st Century.
“‘We must prepare our children, especially in school, not for war, but for a peaceful and happy life.’
“Well, there is little sign of that peaceful and happy life, not since Putin turned the world upside down by invading Ukraine.”
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