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Mirror in the USA

December 20, 2002

School teaches Russian classics to paratroopers

By Yulia Ignatenko

Photo by Yuri Maltsev A paratrooper writes in his notebook as he listens to a teacher

A school in the Russian Far East has opened a branch in an elite military unit to educate conscripts who were unable to complete their education in civilian life - a problem that has come around due to post-Soviet economic hardships.

For six years several drafts of paratroopers, mostly aged 18 to 19, have studied subjects such as mathematics and literature on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays when they are off duty.

"Now many conscripts don't have a proper education for various reasons, and (military) equipment is getting more and more complicated," said Dmitry Grachyov, deputy commander of the paratroopers' brigade near the town of Ussurisk.

Teachers and officers told the story of an 18-year-old boy who was conscripted from the western Russian city of Tver in 2000 after finishing only six grades of the standard 11-year school (from 7 to 18). After his father died, the boy had to find a job to contribute to the family's income, and couldn't continue his education. When drafted he went to the unit's school and was demobilized recently with a certificate of secondary education and a desire to continue studies.

Another conscript, Andrei Barabash from Samara in western Russia, said he finished only nine grades before he had to swap school for work because his father deserted the family.

According to the Russian General Staff, 55 percent of conscripts have incomplete education and some have no education at all, Itogi magazine wrote last month.

Commander of the Ussurisk unit and some of officers' wives, who are teachers, contacted the Ussurisk city department for public education in 1996 asking to open a branch of a city school in the unit.

"The most difficult aspect was getting noncommissioned officers such as commanders of companies and platoons to work with us," said Irina Lifanova, a unit officer's wife and a math teacher. "It's an extra headache for them. It's difficult to rearrange the army routine so that the soldiers have time for classes."

But paratroopers have been willing to study despite the tight schedule, although sometimes they fall asleep at their desks.

"I remember one student who served at a shooting range seven kilometers away from the brigade's main facilities. He used to come in any weather," said Anna Tolmachyova, a teacher of Russian language and literature.

There are no home tasks for the school's students, who currently number 21, because teachers know perfectly well that there will be no time to complete these assignments.

Photo by Yuri Maltsev A chemistry teacher waits as a paratroops conscript draws a diagram

It's the lack of time that caused teachers to organize classes only three times a week, but during this short period teachers have to give a full week's worth of classes. To get around the problem teachers write up summaries of their lessons on posters and hang them inside the military facilities.

"Visual memory is a powerful tool. Besides, a soldier can look at such a poster even when he is on duty," said Tolmachyova.

At a recent class, students studied a 19-century Alexander Ostrovsky play 'The Storm,' and discussed why people can't fly, based on a phrase by the heroine.

School leaving examinations marked by independent experts from the city education department show that the academic level of the army school students is no lower than at other schools, Tolmachyova said.

Teachers at the brigade's school come from Ussurisk's School No. 2, and almost half of them are wives of officers serving at the brigade. This means they work without days off teaching at their regular school on weekdays and at the brigade on weekends.

Despite the hefty workload, the enthusiasts plan to take on even more, seeking to establish similar schools at other military units. Teachers showed a thick pile of thank you letters in the staff room where soldiers wrote that the school "showed them a path in life."

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