Russian Schools to Teach Children Drone Skills Under Expanded Military Training Program

Russia will increase the amount of military training taught in schools from September, with pupils as young as 11 receiving additional lessons on drone operations, field exercises and combat skills under an expanded national curriculum.

Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov said military instruction will increase from about one-fifth to half of all teaching time allocated to the compulsory Fundamentals of Safety and Defence of the Homeland course from 1 September. The course is taught to pupils in sixth through eleventh grades and runs for 34 hours each academic year, meaning students will receive at least 17 hours of military-focused lessons annually. It also covers emergency preparedness, civic responsibilities and national defence.

Officials said pupils will receive practical instruction in operating uncrewed aerial vehicles, also known as drones, alongside field exercises. Older pupils will also continue learning combat first aid, firearms handling and the use of hand grenades as part of the revised programme.

What Pupils Will Learn

The expanded programme also introduces a compulsory subject titled Spiritual and Moral Culture of Russia from September. The Education Ministry said the course will cover Russia's cultural traditions and civic values while incorporating documentary films featuring 83 Russian service personnel who took part in the war in Ukraine.

Alongside practical military instruction, the updated programme combines classroom lessons on civic responsibility and national defence as Russia continues expanding defence education in schools.

Military Education Has Expanded Since 2022

The latest changes form part of a series of education reforms introduced since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Basic military training was first added to school safety lessons in 2023 before being incorporated into the current Fundamentals of Safety and Defence of the Homeland subject in 2024. The amount of military instruction has increased with each subsequent revision of the national curriculum announced by the Education Ministry.

The programme also revives elements of the Soviet-era Initial Military Training course, which taught older pupils drill exercises, field training, first aid and weapons handling before it was abolished in 1993 following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russian authorities have spent more than ₽50 billion (£566 million) ($645 million) over the past five years creating military-patriotic centres where schoolchildren attend compulsory training camps. Independent Russian outlet Verstka also reported prosecutors filed more than 200 lawsuits against schools during 2024 for failing to install required military training facilities, including shooting ranges.

Officials Call for Earlier Military Training

Some Russian officials have already argued the expanded programme should go further by introducing military-related lessons at an earlier age.

Earlier this month, Viktor Vodolatsky, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, said military-related lessons should begin immediately after primary school. Speaking to Russian media, he said children should be prepared for the possibility of conflict with NATO and the European Union from the fifth grade onwards.

His comments followed recent warnings by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that Russia could pose a military threat to Europe later this decade. Russian officials have repeatedly cited growing tensions with Western countries while arguing that defence education should play a greater role in schools.

The changes will take effect when the new school year begins on 1 September, introducing expanded military instruction for pupils across Russia as the government continues placing greater emphasis on defence education in schools.