All-Ukrainian competition for Defense of Ukraine training centers to be held – Lisovyi
Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi has announced the holding of an All-Ukrainian competition for study centers of the educational subject Defense of Ukraine.
"We view ‘Defense of Ukraine’ as a national movement. We have an Olympiad movement, a tournament movement, a project competition movement – these are communities united by certain principles, certain attributes, certain goals, and certain events. And the competitive method is a very good community-building tool and a motivational tool. When there is a large number of centers and children are interested in a certain activity, the competitive component is a very good method to motivate them and increase interest," Lisovyi told journalists in Kyiv on Thursday.
He said that in this regard, it is planned to hold the Defense of Ukraine competitions using the so-called cascade method, from the hromada level to the national level.
The minister noted that the competitions will not be mandatory, but will be held only at the request of the centers.
According to him, the regulations on the competition are already undergoing visa approval at the Ministry of Education.
Among other things, he said that a pilot attempt to hold the competition has already taken place successfully and it will be scaled up.
According to the previously published draft procedure, it is expected that the competitions will be annual and will be conducted in three stages.
In particular, Stage I (center level) – in institutions of general secondary, specialized, vocational, and professional pre-higher education, as well as inter-school resource centers where Defense of Ukraine Study Centers have been established; Stage II (regional, republican, city level) – in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, regions, and the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol; Stage III (final level) – all-Ukrainian.
Previously, it was anticipated that the competition program would include the following areas: pre-medical care under combat conditions (tactical medicine); individual weapon handling skills and marksmanship (simulation) training; UAV piloting; tactical-group actions to practice team interaction; overcoming an obstacle course; land navigation; and a tabletop wargame. At the same time, the minister noted that currently 4 out of 9 areas in which children will compete are being discussed.
As noted, the "Defense of Ukraine" model curriculum was approved in August 2024. By the end of 2025, two-thirds of high school students (64%) are studying in the "Defense of Ukraine" training centers. The goal is to cover all high school students by 2027. Starting from 2027, the updated Defense of Ukraine will become a mandatory subject in every school. Also from 2027, schoolchildren will be able to choose advanced specialized modules – in drone piloting, engineering, cybersecurity, and other areas.
