Overview
- The Education Ministry, quoted by state news agency TASS and distributed by wire services, said Sunday that schools have increased hours of initial/basic military training for students in grades 8–11 effective with the September school year.
- Officials identified the policy target as pupils in grades 8–11, which Japanese outlets noted roughly corresponds to Japan’s second year of middle school through second year of high school.
- Reporting cited by regional papers says the training sits inside a course described as the 'basis of homeland security and defense' and that class time devoted to the drills has been raised substantially from previous levels.
- Coverage so far is based on the ministry’s announcement and gives few operational details on curriculum content, teacher preparation, or how widely the change will be applied, and it records no measured domestic or international reactions.
- The move follows a longer trend of state-backed patriotic and military-oriented schooling dating back to post‑2022 policy shifts and to Soviet-era practices, and it will increase the amount of time adolescents spend on skills such as first aid and evacuation procedures in class.