The Russian Ministry of Education has pushed back on reports that it plans to introduce military training to its curriculum starting next academic year, insisting that the module will be “extracurricular.”
Russian news media reported that the ministry planned to implement a military training module as part of the curriculum that would appear in schools. The ministry quickly appeared to course correct and specified that the module would only appear as an extracurricular, according to RIA Novosti.
“An extracurricular module on basic military training will be prepared for Russian schools and will be introduced into educational programs from the next academic year,” the ministry said in a statement.
The proposed module would allegedly include 140 hours of military training over the course of the final two years of study, with battle-hardened veterans teaching the course. The ministry did not specify whether the module would be compulsory for all students.
