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Latvia to Introduce Hands-On Drone Piloting in Mandatory State Defense Classes
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Latvia plans to gradually add hands-on drone operation training to its state defense classes in the second semester of the current school year.
The Latvian Ministry of Defense told the LETA news agency, as cited by Delfi, that state defense lessons have already included theoretical instruction on drone capabilities for the past two years. Going forward, these lessons will be expanded to include practical UAV piloting exercises.
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In parallel, the Jaunsardze Center launched specialized summer camps focused on drone operation in 2025. Twenty-eight students participated in the first round, and similar camps are scheduled to take place again this summer.
According to Delfi, Latvia’s State Defense Concept approved by the Saeima on October 5, 2023, makes state defense education a compulsory component of secondary schooling starting in the 2024/2025 academic year. The program is intended to equip students with basic skills for crisis and wartime situations and to foster a sense of civic responsibility.
State defense is one of the core subjects within the broader framework of health, safety, and physical education. Classes are held once a month for a full day, lasting eight academic hours, except in September and January, over two consecutive school years, the outlet reported. The Jaunsardze Center oversees the implementation of the course and the training of instructors.
The issue of militarization has also extended beyond formal education systems. An investigation by the Yale University Humanitarian Research Lab found that Ukrainian children taken to Russia have been forced to work in facilities producing drones and other military equipment for Moscow’s armed forces.
The report identified 210 sites connected to what researchers describe as Russia’s system of abducting, deporting, indoctrinating, and coercively adopting tens of thousands of Ukrainian children. These sites fall into eight categories, including at least one military base, and form part of what the investigators say is a broader Kremlin program of forced assimilation.
At the All-Russian Children’s Center “Change” in Krasnodar Krai, researchers documented cases in which Ukrainian children were compelled to assemble drones, mine detectors, robotic systems, and rapid loaders for assault rifles, directly linking the abuse of deported children to Russia’s military-industrial production.
Earlier, a Russian parliamentarian proposed broadening compulsory military education in schools, saying pupils from as early as fifth grade should be taught battlefield survival skills.
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