Igor Metlik - about teaching military-industrial complex in schools

Igor Metlik, head of the laboratory for the development, education and socialization of children at the Institute for the Study of Family, Childhood and Education of the Russian Academy of Education, who has been involved in the development of teaching Orthodox culture in Russian schools for many years, commented on the message for the SOVA Center about the decrease in the number of parents of schoolchildren making a choice in favor of the course “ Fundamentals of Orthodox culture".

This message cannot be called anything other than anti-church propaganda. There are many questions mixed together, some of them have some basis in pedagogical terms, but in general, the author of the article does not have the information. The choice of the OPK module within the framework of the ORKSE course is gradually increasing, which is what we expected, because initially the percentage was lower than expected, which is understandable: a lack of teachers, hence the school’s unwillingness to choose the appropriate subjects, sometimes administrative obstacles - when they do not allow you to choose not only at the school level , but also at the regional level. There is still a unique region, Tatarstan, where for the fourth year, in violation of federal law, parents actually do not have the opportunity to freely choose modules.

However, this is changing, there are more choices, and in some places we are seeing a significant increase in the number of students studying CEC. For example, the situation on Sakhalin has changed radically. We were told that this is such a region, the descendants of convicts live here, what kind of defense industry, and indeed in 2013 the choice of defense industry was 2.7%, in 2014 - 4.1. But the governor changed there, a more or less free election was organized, and the result was 46%.

If we think logically, the choice in percentage terms should approximately correspond to the self-identification of Russian citizens: if we have 70-80 percent, according to various surveys, call themselves Orthodox, then the defense industry complex should choose somewhere around 50-60 percent across the country. Now it’s about 35, not all issues have been resolved yet. Not everywhere teachers are prepared at a high-quality level, not everywhere, as I already said, the choice is completely free, although the Ministry of Education has sent out to the regions approximate regulations for the election procedure in schools.

There may be questions about how things are handled at diocesan courses preparing teachers of the military-industrial complex, if we relate to the commentary of Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev, but teacher training is not limited to diocesan courses. No diocesan courses have the right to issue a certificate of advanced training instead of state institutions. Another thing is that any private organization can organize any courses if it has the appropriate resources. Therefore, the diocese can teach teachers in a free genre, but a state certificate is issued only by the corresponding professional development organization.

The Church is now quite acutely raising the question of why the ORKSE course is taught only in the 4th grade, why the study of religious culture is not expanded, and the corresponding concept has been prepared, so I do not rule out that the publication appeared precisely in connection with this.

But overall, the process is moving in the right direction.