Istories: Russian schools began to buy drones for teaching children
Schoolchildren in several regions will be taught how to assemble and control drones at once
Translation from Istories:
Russian public schools in different regions have begun purchasing “training UAVs” and other equipment to teach children how to fly drones, according to data on the public procurement website. This is happening against the backdrop of a general militarization of Russian school education.
School No. 583 in St. Petersburg is going to purchase 15 “training UAVs” at the expense of the city budget. Their total cost is almost 1 million rubles. In May, the students of this school took part in a “stream dedicated to Victory Day,” which was held on the basis of the PMC Wagner Center, created with the support of businessman and founder of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin in St. Petersburg.
School No. 525 in St. Petersburg will spend about 1 million rubles on the "supply of educational equipment: unmanned aerial vehicles." Judging by the procurement documents, the school will be supplied with kits “for self-assembly of quadrocopters.” As the school reports in its social networks, from September 1, 2023, the UAV Design and Programming program for schoolchildren aged 12-15 will open. Pupils of this school donate crafts for the Russian military to the front, celebrate the 9th anniversary of the annexation of Crimea with the game "Crimean Spring" and participate in meetings with teachers from the occupied Mariupol.
The Magan secondary school in Yakutsk (Republic of Sakha) will purchase a DJI Mini 3 Pro drone, a Chinese drone that both sides in the war in Ukraine use for reconnaissance, as well as handicraft modifications for other purposes. In May, school students participated in the Cyber Sniper competition, which was held among local units of the Yunarmiya children's paramilitary movement.
Schoolchildren in the Kaliningrad region will be taught not only to manage but also to develop drones. Secondary school No. 50 in Kaliningrad placed a purchase of an "educational air module for the development of UAVs" for 9.4 million rubles. The school will spend another 5 million rubles on the "Software and hardware complex for piloting an unmanned aircraft with aerial photography function." Pupils of this school from the cadet classes were awarded medals from the Ministry of Defense in May for participating in the May 9 parade.
Lyceum No. 1 of the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in April 2023 purchased eight "children's" drones "Eaglet" and "Osa" with a total cost of 1.5 million rubles. Drones were created in a local IT park “to train schoolchildren in drone control skills.” The Governor of the Sakhalin Region, Valery Limarenko, also actively promoted this development and suggested using it in the general education program.
In April 2023, Vladimir Putin said that drone control courses should be introduced into educational programs, including in schools. “This so-called early career guidance will ultimately benefit the country,” he said. At the same time, experts are talking about the shortage of civilian drones, which arose on the Russian market due to the war in Ukraine.