Russian high schools now require 17 hours of basic military training classes for 6th to 11th grade

Teenagers examine Kalashnikov assault rifles during a military training lesson in Moscow. Contributor/Getty Images A new educational policy in Russia is expanding high school military training to at least 17 hours. It's part of a mandatory course for students in 6th to 11th grade on national security. The training includes lessons on first aid, firearm handling, hand grenades, and drones. Russia is more than doubling the amount of basic military training in a compulsory national defense class for 6th- to 11th-graders, its education minister said on Friday. Sergei Kravtsov said that 50% of the course, "Fundamentals of Homeland Security and Defense," would be dedicated to military training by September 1. That's up from a previous 20% of the curriculum reserved for such training, which will now also include lessons on uncrewed aerial vehicles , otherwise known as flying drones, and field exercises, Kravstov said. The entire course contains 34 hours of material each school year, so Kravstov's announcement would mean that the course will now include at least 17 hours of basic military training. While the course contains lessons on Russian military history, civic service, and wartime survival, it also teaches older students combat-relevant skills such as first aid, basic firearm handling, and how to use a hand grenade. The lessons echo the Soviet-era Initial Military Training, a compulsory subject for older high schoolers that included drill, first aid, rifle handling, and field-exercise camps. The course was abolished in 1993, but Moscow reintroduced elements of the training after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. Independent Russian media outlet Vertska reported that, amid the recent educational push, prosecutors filed over 200 lawsuits against schools in 2024 for failing to install military training facilities, such as shooting ranges. Russia has plans to expand school-based military training even further. In April, authorities discussed reviving