Three points were stated as the main tasks regarding the introduction of the subject on State Defense (SD) in the schools of Latvia: -creation of civic awareness among the schoolchildren and their patriotic education
-development of skills to protect the state
-development of leadership and cohesion skills.
It is planned to create civic consciousness and patriotism through the in-depth history of Latvia taught at school. (16 hours of study will be allocated for this).
Also, adolescents will be taught leadership skills, and will also be allowed to practice speaking. In total, this block will take 8 hours.
However, the emphasis will still be made on the preparation of schoolchildren for the conduct of hostilities, if any. The total duration of the program is 320 hours, and the military unit of the subject itself will take 260 hours.
The bill states that teenagers will first have to undergo a 10-hour theoretical briefing, after which they will begin to use various small arms. They will start with pneumatics (13 hours), then they will continue shooting with small-sized rifles (12 hours), and the last 12 hours of the shooting unit will be dedicated to studies of the capabilities of the G36 infantry assault rifle of the Latvian army.
Also, the students will have to spend 19 hours after a short hour of instruction, practicing marching. However, the main emphasis will be made on the subject “Field warfare skills” – 20 hours of theory, followed by a block of 51 hours in nature. Related topics that students of schools and professional institutions in Latvia will have to master will be topography (20 hours, with 10 hours of practical classes) and orientation (18 hours). 18 hours are allocated for the skill of the provision of medical care.
According to the bill approved by the Saeima, the theoretical course will be taught in the 10th and 11th grades, and after the 11th class the pupils will have military camps. The format of the subject of SD is as follows:
-Once a month pupils of the 10th grade will have a 8-hour day dedicated to military defense without any other items on this day. During the school year, 9 such “military trainings” will be held.
-In June or August, the students finished the 10-year-old will have to sacrifice 10 days of their vacation, going to this field camp for this time. There they will daily train for 8 hours. -In 11th grade and in summer before 12th grade the process will be repeated (9 school days for 8 hours + 11-day camp, a day longer than a year earlier). For students of vocational schools, a similar course will be conducted at the 2nd and 3rd courses, but since they study longer, an additional requirement will appear on the 4th course – military practice of 960 hours (39 days), which will be replaced by practice in the National Armed Forces. From September 2018 the subject of SD starts in 14 schools in Latvia. It is planned that the full course of SD will be integrated into the school curriculum by 2024.
