Daria Borisova — about the benefits of military-patriotic education of young people
In an interview with TASS, Daria Borisova, head of the educational and methodological center for military-patriotic education of youth "Avangard", told why the organization's stand is very popular among the guests of the Army-2023 forum, why schools go to tricks so that students get to the training camps in Kubinka again and again, and also named countries that want to adopt Russian experience and are preparing to open branches of Avangard.
— The Center has been participating in the Army Forum since 2021. How does your stand attract the attention of guests and participants this time?
— We try to take into account within the framework of the Army forum the principles that guide us when working with teenagers. In particular, it is a bright visual image that people immediately pay attention to. For several days of the forum, I noticed in the conversation of random passers-by that they use our bright stand as a landmark. At the same time, the Avangard stand at the Army forum is not only a beautiful wrapper, but also a place where you can get new skills or upgrade your skills. Firstly, we have two racks for assembling and disassembling the Kalashnikov assault rifle layout for a while. You can try your hand, even if you've never done it. But I, for example, have been observing over the past few days many people who are very professionally assembling a machine gun — these are civilians, people in uniform, cadets and cadets. There are a lot of people who want to, it would seem, a fairly simple activity.
Then you can try yourself as a mechanic-driver of the BTR-80. We have a simulator mounted on our stand that allows you to drive through a variety of scenarios and routes: off-road, mountains, forests, fields. In fact, from the second or third time, many people manage to control the APC quite tolerably.
Also at the Avangard stand there is a special track for robotics, where you understand how skillfully you own a pre-assembled robot for you. The tasks are different: from overcoming the route for a while to the collaboration of several robots. With the help of robots, you can build or destroy something, but in the right way: for example, remove one stick from the top of the pyramid so as not to destroy it. This is also a skill from the point of view of working with robotics.
You can also relax, drink coffee, recharge your phone, take a photo for memory, which you can immediately print out and take with you. You can buy Avangard branded merch, by the way, there are new items there. There is also an opportunity to play video games. Last year we already presented our educational video game at the Avangard stand, and this year an upgrade of the game was released. People who play it can be transferred from the branch of the Avangard near Moscow to the future branch in Abu Dhabi. Having a promising model and visualization of the Arab center, we allowed ourselves to dream a little and create another level in our game. The game is educational: the guys collect stars and get points for them, answer questions of initial military training. There is no end of those who want to play it.
— The Center traditionally signs a number of agreements as part of the work at the Army Forum. Which ones were concluded this year?
— We have signed an agreement with the Russian Union of Tour Operators. We have also signed an agreement with the organizing committee of the Delphic Games, within the framework of which we plan to hold one of the stages of the competitions. During it, teachers working under the initial military training program will be tested for a creative approach within this profession. In addition, an agreement was signed with the All-Russian Federation of Digital Sports and its head Nikita Nagorny. The signing of the protocol on cooperation with the Moscow City Duma in the person of Chairman Alexey Shaposhnikov took place.
— You have repeatedly said that Avangard is unique, there is no such product anywhere else in the world. What is its peculiarity?
— In the approach to what initial military training is. "Avangard" destroys myths about the fact that it is not necessary, not interesting, militarizes childhood, youth, and so on. We suggest looking at this process as something extremely useful and a necessary skill for anyone - be it a housewife or a top manager. The things that are taught in the "Vanguard" as part of the course of a young fighter help to have a minimum set of skills and abilities to overcome emergencies that can happen at any moment. The uniqueness is probably in this and, of course, in the material and technical base of Avangard, which is located on the territory of Patriot Park.
— The center has been operating since 2020. During this time, tens of thousands of schoolchildren from Moscow and the Moscow region have visited here, and many of them have completed your distance learning program. Are there enough opportunities for Avangard to receive everyone?
— In September 2020, the first race was held at Avangard, one five-day event was held with schoolchildren from the Moscow region. Then the center immediately closed for the pandemic period until the end of February 2021. And despite the long break, since the opening of the center, more than 100 thousand boys and girls have been training here in full-time format. Many times more have passed them in the distance learning format. This format has very organically fit into the reality dictated by post-teen history. It is also relevant for children who cannot pass training camps for health reasons.
Our online platform is constantly changing, new materials are being added. Avangard's educational programs are also expanding. In addition to the standard course of a young fighter, we have an even more in-depth course. There is also a course for a young fighter with the profile "medicine", first aid. In addition, the KMB (young fighter course) on drones has been developed, the course is in test mode, but we are about to launch it - I think in mid—September.
As for the entire community that has passed through the "Vanguard" during this time, it's not just schoolchildren. We can already say with confidence that we also work for students who are in the 18+ category. In 2022, about 30 thousand children from Moscow and the Moscow region, who are graduating from colleges and theoretically fall under the spring draft, were trained at the center. Naturally, the program was somewhat different than that of children, the element of gamification was removed. It turned out with a bang, we managed to fill the gap in knowledge that the guys had.
Last year, Avangard also became a platform on the basis of which partial mobilization events were organized. We received a very large number of people. From 900 people, our capabilities have been increased to 3 thousand people per day. In just a few days, by the forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the governments of Moscow and the Moscow region, the facility was retrofitted to such capacities that allowed it to work like this. Therefore, we can safely say that Avangard is not only a children's center for initial military training, but also a full—fledged facility within the region, which allows you to work out completely different tasks dictated by time.
By the way, there are no children on the territory of the center now. Since the end of April, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has decided that persons who plan to sign a contract with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and serve in the army will be accommodated on the territory of Avangard. We also conduct a course for them, we give them the initial basics of military training until the moment when the military personnel depart to the place of combat coordination in the units.
Our task is to give future servicemen some introductory component in those three to five days from the moment of arrival of people from the assembly point on our territory, while they are waiting for their names to be entered into the order and the signing of this order. During this time, they, in fact, go through the same program that the guys go through. They pass the program at will, we cannot force them, the "Vanguard" is not an army. But people perfectly understand why they need this knowledge, and they are happy to receive it.
— Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Avangard program is so popular that schools even go to little tricks so that their students can get on shift again and again.
— Yes, it is really true, and it is very joyful that the center has expanded its territory and increased the number of seats. In fact, everything happened simply: we replaced the furniture stock from ordinary beds to bunk beds. It has become more atmospheric and entourage. The changes did not infringe on the guys in any way from the point of view of their convenience, but this makes it possible to accept not 900 people, but 1,800. We received children from January of this year until the end of April. Some guys like us so much that they want to come for another shift.
— Do you test each of the new programs on yourself?
— Yes, of course, absolutely. I check any program on myself both in printed form and in physics when it comes out. But I am not a professional, so we always run new programs on all teachers and counselors. Now there is time for this, while there are no children's races. We are just testing a number of new programs. Moreover, when new employees get a job at the center, then as part of the probationary period, we drive them away according to the programs that we teach the guys. This summer we decided to conduct administrative staff through the programs as well.
— You made a proposal to unify the training program and create a unified system of training and retraining of personnel working in the Avangard, Unarmia centers, training clubs, as well as military-patriotic associations in schools. Why is this necessary?
— Every day, reading the news, we see why this is a necessity. But until there is the same methodology and people do not understand what and how to teach, as well as with the help of what material base, there will be no uniformity. And uniformity is very important in the educational process. We have been working on this for a long time at the Avangard center, these programs exist, we are ready to teach, accept adults, teachers on our territory. We are ready to travel to the regions and teach the people who work there. We are ready to teach remotely, as well as combine full-time and part-time format. Avangard is ready for anything. I'm just sure that the extent to which this new knowledge will settle in the minds of children depends 98% on the adult who will present them with information. How much he himself will burn with his program. I would really like to work with adults and form a decent talent pool.
At the moment, Avangard employs about 50 teachers and about 130 counselors and educators. They are all very extraordinary people. All our teachers are like diamonds, piece-by-piece, they all have their own characteristics. Since the beginning of the SVO, quite young guys have appeared in our ranks, 25-27 years old, who are already hung with medals and orders, have returned from the war zone and are now teaching due to the fact that they can no longer go to the front and defend their Homeland. I'm proud of my guys, it's a super team. How they work, they burn with it! They switch so quickly from working with children to working with adults. It is not for nothing that they say that the Avangard center in any region is a great help for the local governor. Here you not only teach children, but you can also use this platform for any needs by the same people who work with children. And there is no need to make any other maneuvers.
— Do you plan to implement this initiative of the center, maybe you are in dialogue with the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation?
— Even before it became mainstream, we offered the Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov to return the initial military training. It was back in 2022 in the framework of the forum "Power in Truth". And, as you can see, the initial military training is returning to schools — it's great. We are certainly ready to cooperate with the Ministry of Education and other departments. In the near future, we plan to sign a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, since this topic is also relevant for them. Initial military training becomes mandatory not only for schoolchildren, but also for students.
— You represented Avangard at the Russia—Africa summit, during which you invited colleagues from African countries to visit. The concept of the "Avant-garde" aroused great interest among them. Has someone already visited you?
— No one has arrived yet, but we are in the negotiation process with colleagues who came to our stand and were interested in our developments. I think that in a few months it will be possible to sum up an interim result of which agreements have been fired and which have not.
— Avangard will soon reach the international level, next year a similar center will open in the UAE. How did you manage to adapt the Russian program to the peculiarities of a Muslim country?
— It looks scary only at first glance. With the proper level of involvement — and our Arab colleagues certainly have it at the maximum — everything turns into the right product very quickly with the help of consultations. From the point of view of some religious or cultural aspect, this is a fairly rigid division of curricula into boys and girls. And during Ramadan, the children will study in the dark, and rest during the day. Probably, perhaps, this is all that is unusual and differs from the educational process that takes place in the Russian "Avant-Garde".
The construction of the center in Abu Dhabi is on time, all the paper stages have been completed. Literally in September of this year, our colleagues are entering the construction phase, and in September 2024 we plan to launch an Arabic analogue of Avangard. Previously, local staff will come to the center near Moscow for a training course. Then, a few weeks before the opening, our guys, teachers and instructors will go to the UAE and conduct another training course on their programs on the basis of the new center. In the future, the Russian teachers of "Avangard" in the number of 30 people will remain in the UAE for a period of three to six months. So we are on schedule, and the project is under the personal control of the President of the UAE. The center in Abu Dhabi is being built for 600 people for a one-time stay, but colleagues from our experience are laying out territories for further development.
— During the summit, you spoke about the desire to transfer the unique experience of Avangard, expand to other countries and continents. Have there already been any verbal agreements in this regard with any of the other friendly countries of Russia?
— Our colleagues from Belarus want to open an analogue of Avangard. The Avangard stand was visited by the Minister of Defense of Belarus Viktor Khrenin. He was already in our center a few years ago, inspecting the territory. We have agreed that in the near future we will work out the possibility of signing an international memorandum of cooperation in this area between our countries and participate in the creation of the "Vanguard" on the territory of Belarus. Perhaps it will be called differently, but it will not change the essence.
Colleagues from Belarus have a very interesting approach when students participate in the construction of many social facilities and not only. It turns out a youth, patriotic construction site. This is very cool. I think our guys, the employees of Avangard, will be happy to join this process. This is a historical moment, like the construction of BAM. It will be very cool in many years to come to a location that you yourself, with your own hands, helped to create. I would love to join such a project.
As for the arrival of Belarusian schoolchildren to visit Russia, so far we have not hosted the guys, but I think this moment is not far off. By the way, the same applies to the guys from Abu Dhabi. I definitely want to organize their visit to Russia in winter, because the Arabs have a belief: if you see snow, you will be happy all your life. I want to make as many children happy as possible.