Moscow education manages a very difficult thing. It would be easiest to reduce military-patriotic work with schoolchildren to high-sounding slogans that mean little to modern children on solemn lines on another memorable date. Instead, meetings with those who have accomplished the feat, educational quests, skydiving, military translation with professional linguists and other memorable and educative events. The director of the Moscow Center “Patriot” told about them in an interview with “AIF”.Sports» Marat Kuchushev.
Dusty exhibits are a thing of the past
Inna Aleynikova, АиФ.ги:Commemorative events are held in all schools to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Moscow. Is there a common scenario for them?
Marat KuchushevThere is no need for this, because teachers and schoolchildren have a huge number of their own ideas. It is enough to look at what a variety of school museums are working today. There is a museum in almost every school, sometimes more than one. An outdated opinion that a museum is a room that opens a couple of times a week to look at dusty exhibits. There is no such thing in sight! Last year we awarded the best school museums in Moscow in the “Heroes Cup” competition. 75 winning schools received awards.
In the spring of this year, a competition of expositions about the people’s militia was announced. Schoolchildren and teachers organized them, picked up material for exhibitions. In Soviet times, there was little open information about the militia. Many people died from divisions formed in Moscow, where ordinary people went at the behest of their hearts, many of them did not know how to handle weapons, but immediately went to the front line. On October 11, 2021, the capital celebrated the Day of the Moscow People’s Militia for the first time. In schools, on the territory of which the formation of divisions took place in 1941, there weresolemn lines and rallies, “Lessons of courage”, excursions and exhibitions, meetings with the descendants of the militia. In addition, in mid-December, the results of the contest “In Memory of the feat of the People’s Militia of Moscow in the Battle for Moscow” will be summed up. We are holding it together with the Moscow City Duma. More than 200 educational organizations of the capital took part in it. Now the final stage is underway: teachers of 12 finalist schools conduct open lessons and extracurricular activities at expositions and exhibitions that they created specifically for the competition.
Photo: press service of the Patriot Center.Sports»
— By what criteria do you evaluate expositions at competitions?
The selection of exhibits, communication with descendants, the quality and reliability of information provided to visitors, etc. Many children were very inspired to work in the museums of their schools by the passage of the quest “Feat of the People” in the Victory Museum. This exhibition about how Victory was forged in the rear was visited and will still be visited by students of Moscow schools. The action is not a one-time, but a permanent one. The mayor made a gift to schoolchildren, and more than 100 thousand people will pass the quest this academic year alone.
— You rather strictly evaluate school museums. So their level is high?
Yes, the situation has changed a lot in a positive way. By the way, the school museum standard is currently being developed in Moscow. The requirements will take into account where this or that exhibition is located: in a separate office, in the lobby or on the street. A list of equipment that, in our opinion, is necessary for the school museum has also been prepared: scanners for digitizing data about exhibits, computers, panels for daily demonstration of historical materials, exhibitsQR codes can be placed so that the child comes up, points the phone and finds out everything about this thing – where it was found, who it belonged to, how it got to school. The main thing is that the museum should become a center where children come not just to see, but where they conduct research, communicate with each other, establish contacts with other schools, from which large joint projects grow. Every child and adult in our country should not forget at what price the Victory came.
Photo: press service of the Patriot Center.Sports»
Fees for 10th graders with simulators
It is clear from your story that museums keep up with the times. And what other options are there to make the military-patriotic theme far from a formality?
Now children have a different format for perceiving information, so it should be presented in a different way. Teenagers like video content, videos in Tiktok, where everything is fast and short. This trend can also be seen on educational platforms. For example, the Moscow Electronic School has short video tutorials in all subjects. Educational texts are necessaryadd links to movies and videos, that is, give information in a comprehensive way: where to watch and read. Of course, children get a lot from live communication, meetings with Heroes of Russia, military, cosmonauts, law enforcement officers have the strongest educational effect. This is not the same as a portrait of a hero on the wall or a story in a textbook.
Photo: press service of the Patriot Center.Sports»
In May, more than 5 thousand Moscow schoolchildren took part in patronage actions in memory of the militia heroes: monuments to participants of the Great Patriotic War, the defense of Moscow, heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia were put in order. Who are these children? Why do some people do this and others don’t?
— When there is an active person in the school — director, deputy, teacher of the cadet class or a teacher who lives and burns with it, — then the guys light up. For example, the headmaster of school No. 709 Vladimir Druzhinin a man with an active civic position, he has cadet classes, and the unarmeist movement, and hikes, where he himself goes with children as an older comrade. Patronage actions, care of monuments are a natural thing for the children of most schools and colleges, for them the love of the Fatherland, the memory of their ancestors is not an empty phrase.
— What does your center do «Patriot.Sports»?
Our institution, subordinate to the Department of Education and Science of the city of Moscow, has various areas of activity, all of them relate to sports and military-patriotic education. We supervise the Unarmeist movement in the city, conduct an educational project “Cadet class at the Moscow school”, conduct five-day training camps for10th graders and college students, we organize sports competitions in schools. Also in our structure there is a Marine Center named after Peter the Great, where pupils are engaged in additional education. Two clubs are open there: the club of young marines named after Hero of Russia Andrey Dneprovsky and the club of young sailors named after Hero of Russia Konstantin Somov.
Photo: press service of the Patriot Center.Sports»
In parental chats, mothers ask each other cautiously what five-day fees are. Please give me first-hand information.
— This is an educational program designed for 35 hours, on the school subject «Fundamentals of Life Safety ». Teachers from their schools are with the children at the training camps, and our teachers conduct the training camps. In order to cover all children who have the opportunity to attend classes for health reasons, they are accepted in severalplaces. Someone comes to the educational and methodological center “Avangard” in the park “Patriot”. At the disposal of the boys are simulators, simulators of armored training, skydiving, laser shooting range, etc. Also, schoolchildren are waiting for a health and educational camp “Patriot” in Tuchkovo of the Ruzsky district and a number of military units.
In each administrative district
— How is the project developing with cadet classes in Moscow schools?
Cadet classes were opened for the first time on the 70th anniversary of the Victory. In 2021, there are cadets in 261 schools, more than 26 thousand children study in grades 7–11. They study the history of Russia in depth, undergo drill and fire training, engage in sports and creativity, master programs in almost 20 profiles: these are profiles of different types of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the FSB, the FSO, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, etc. Career guidance takes place on the basis of partner universities, where studentsthey try themselves in professions, get their first special skills and knowledge. For example, the Moscow State Linguistic University is engaged in military translation. Cadets who have chosen the profile of the aerospace forces attend classes at Lomonosov Moscow State University and MAI, study astronomy and mathematics, try themselves in designing and prototyping unmanned aerial vehicles, 3D modeling and programming.
Photo: press service of the Patriot Center.Sports»
Explain how the Cadet movement differs from the “Unarmia”?
— Cadets receive general secondary education in schools, admission to cadets — from the 7th grade. And “Unarmia” is a public children’s movement that is not directly related to general education disciplines, everyone can join it, starting from the age of 8. In Moscow this autumn we celebrated the fifth anniversary of the “Unarmia”. In 2016, the movement started with 500 people, and now there are more than 30 thousand yunarmeytsev in the city. The Moscow headquarters is headed by Colonel-General, Hero of Russia Vladimir Shamanov. His deputy – Major General, Hero of Russia Gevorg Isakhanyan. These people inspire and teach children by their example and authority.
— We see how the yunarmeytsy pass on May 9 during the parade on Red Square. And what do they do during the year?
— For Muscovites 11–18 years old, we provide free training in a modular specialized program «Moscow yunarmeets». The program is unique. Four modules: «Rescue and survival in emergency situations », «Open sky», «Only the brave conquer the seas » and «The Young Defender of the Fatherland». So, the module “Open Sky” includes courses “Young military pilot”, “Young aircraft designer”, “Operator of unmanned aerial vehiclesaircraft». And in the module “Young Defender of the Fatherland”, in addition to shooting and self-defense courses, the course “Young parachutist” is included. Since the launch in 2017, many schoolchildren have been trained and successfully performed parachute jumps.
—Where do the yunarmeits study?
The headquarters of the “Unarmia” are open in every administrative district of Moscow. All information is available on the website of the Moscow Patriot Center.Sports». We invite everyone!