Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ The Russian government has instructed schools across the country to establish military museums to teach children to "glorify the heroes and defenders of the Motherland". The initiative comes as part of a drive to militarise Russia's schools and promote martial values. ⬇️

2/ 'We Can Explain' reports on an order issued recently by Deputy Minister of Education Alexander Bugaev ordering educational establishments to create "sections dedicated to participants in the Special Military Operation".

3/ The order instructs schools to create a "memorial museum ... in the place where a member of the [Russian armed forces] who died in the performance of military duty or while performing heroic actions lived or studied."

4/ If no such individual can be found, then "the possibility of creating an exhibition on the general topic of the SMO should be considered." Realistic 1:1 models of ammunition or shell fragments should be used to avoid possible hazards from the real thing.

5/ The military museums are to be used in conjunction with lessons on courage, military-themed hours and activities, and excursions. Teachers are instructed to use them as the basis for lessons in history, literature and Russian language, art and crafts.

6/ The document advises that "when discussing the SMO and any related topics, it can cause strong emotional reactions in students." In particular, "adolescent students have a special need for convincing argumentation; their perception of reality is contradictory and critical."

7/ The initiative comes against the background of a systematic drive to militarise Russia's schools, which among other things has seen kindergarteners practising trench warfare.

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1713934574995075557

8/ So-called "military-patriotic clubs" of military veterans have visited schools to show off weapons and talk about the experiences in the war in Ukraine. Teachers have also been fully involved in such efforts.

9/ In Votkinsk in Udmurtia, children in paratrooper uniforms were told by a teacher of how "ordinary guys show examples of perseverance and heroism, take the wounded from the battlefield, storm the positions of the Ukrainian Nazis and defend the world until their last breath."

10/ Before the war, child psychologists opposed this kind of education as they considered that introducing weapons to children encouraged aggression. An anti-militarist "Day of Destruction of Military Toys" used to be promoted in Russia, but no longer.

11/ The evident goal of such initiatives is to create a thoroughly militaristic new generation of Russians for whom war and fighting to defeat Ukraine are the natural order of things. /end

Source:
pointmedia.io/story/65770a37…