A Interagency Council on Patriotic Education is to be created in Russia, which is to develop the areas of the regulatory framework and ensure consistency of the federal government in the development of patriotic programs and activities. The Council will determine the "priority areas for the development of patriotic education" and monitor how the ministries, departments and organizations implement the state program and patriotic events.
Denis Sadovnikov, head of the department for work with state and public organizations of the Russian Military-Historical Society said that in two years eight sessions in military-patriotic camps were organized. ‘‘The ninth session is to take place in Crimea. It will be conjugated with the Crimean Military-Historical Festival. We will develop the experience that has been approved by us in June this year during our largest military-patriotic camp, which took place on the Borodino field on the territory of the Borodino Military State Historical Reserve. Children will be involved in an interactive ground. We dress in the uniforms of the period of World War II, give them models of weapons and then place them in a camp, which is being built according to all the requirements of the period of the Second World II. And what they were doing, the program, also corresponds to what our soldiers were doing in 1941-1945. It is an appropriate training program. The organization of the camp and its mode were organized in order that children could be absorbed in this period. Therefore, we believe we are achieving the aims and objectives for patriotic education of youth.’’
The main focus will be on the creation of large centers, large all-Russian areas, where such work can be carried out, as well as training the personnel who will work with children. ‘‘According to our researches, the military patriotic clubs which work now don't always have decent personnel. In many cases, the activity of the club is built in accordance with the personal preferences of the head, who is often a retired servicemen, who has no pedagogical or psychological education. There are exceptions to the rule, but unfortunately they aren’t very frequent. And we use the best of what has been achieved by different social organizations and military-patriotic clubs to create the system. We deal with the training of personnel in order to organize this activity at a high level,’’ Sadovnikov said.
According to him, the historical and military camps organized by the Russian Military-Historical Society were created according to an absolutely unique program: ‘‘They differ from the applied military camps organized by veterans' organizations and educational institutions in the form of five-day sessions. Because patriotic education doesn’t involve the formation of primarily military and applied knowledge, skills and abilities. This is education. It is the formation of a certain system of values, a certain ideology, a certain way of thinking. Patriotic education implies, first of all, communion with our history, our culture, learning our history, especially military history, commemorative dates, distinguished names of prominent personalities of our military history, as well as military traditions… The Russian Military-Historical Society generates a system of military and patriotic education. We didn’t have it earlier in our country at such a state level.’’
