First Russian textbook teaching school children about drones published

Russian drone manufacturer Geoscan has partnered with Russian educational publishing house Prosveshcheniye to publish the first textbook on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) — better known as drones — for school children, according to a press release issued by Geoscan on Tuesday. 

The textbook, which is aimed at school children in the eighth and ninth grades (aged 14–15), will be used as part of technology lessons in Russian high schools, which have been introduced starting this academic year, Geoscan said. 

“It is important to guide students towards making an informed choice of engineering professions. All the necessary conditions have been created for this — today most schools in the Russian Federation are equipped with modern teaching methods, advanced material and technical equipment, including classrooms for conducting classes on studying unmanned aerial vehicles,” said Victoria Kopylova, vice president for publishing at Prosveshcheniye, which means “enlightenment” in Russian.

The textbook consists of six chapters: a general introduction to unmanned aviation, classification and structure of drones, electronic components of unmanned aerial vehicles, basics of manual piloting, programming autonomous flights, trends and professions in the world of drones. The material is designed for 34 hours of study in total.

Drone warfare has become a daily reality for millions of people in Ukraine and southwestern Russia, where hundreds of civilians have been killed in the past two and a half years of the war in almost nightly cross-border drone strikes. 

The introduction of a course on drones to Russian high schools is the latest attempt by the Kremlin to expose children to government messaging from a young age. Also introduced this school year was an optional extracurricular course aimed at students aged 11–15 promoting “traditional family values” and encouraging “pro-family values and attitudes”.