Laurynas Kasčiūnas. When creating a global defense system, it is necessary to turn to civic and patriotic education in 2021. April 12 12:50 p.m

Taking into account the geopolitical trends of the 21st century, the emergence of a new generation of hybrid threats, the Government's program sets the goal of moving to a qualitatively new approach in order to ensure national security - to implement the principle of universal security, which is based not only on the army, but also on the active participation and preparation of the entire state and its citizens both for armed defense and non-military threats.

The National Security and Defense Committee of the Seimas has just initiated the renewal of the National Security Strategy, which will reflect the principles of the state's comprehensive defense and ensure the involvement of civil institutions, the private sector and the public in national security and defense preparedness. Thus, universal defense has both military and civilian aspects. It includes both state resilience and societal resilience to a wide range of threats, as well as preparedness for armed and unarmed resistance. This requires a comprehensive approach to threats, which is understood as the close cooperation of military and civilian state institutions, the private sector and public groups and activities that strengthen the state's military, social, economic, cyber, informational and civil response, as well as the coordination of those activities.

Only citizens who are resistant to various threats, are able to critically assess them, are aware of their duties and roles in ensuring security and defense, and are willing to contribute to them, are the best source of defense and deterrence. Therefore, education plays a crucial role here, without which it is impossible to create a strong civil society capable of resisting any aggressor and his actions. The cultivation of historical memory, the development of citizenship and patriotism, focusing on contractual skills, are the most important things that strengthen people's collective identity, connection with the nation, and responsibility for their country. Society's resilience and will to resist depend on them. Without all this, the general resistance would be a sham. Existing initiatives do not yield results. It is worth noting that the Polish Military University's 2019 November-December a sociological study conducted on the will of the societies of the Baltic countries to defend and resist shows that 29.9 percent would be inclined to participate in the armed defense of their country. of those surveyed in Lithuania, only 4.9 percent of them would actually participate, and 25.7 percent. would likely participate. In Latvia, the situation looks somewhat better - 49 percent, of which 20.5 percent. would definitely participate, 25.8 percent. would likely participate. The most exemplary would be Estonia, which 66% would agree to defend. of surveyed citizens, of which 38.3 percent would definitely defend, 28.3 percent. would probably defend. Such Lithuanian results can be explained by the civic power of society. Although the index of civil power of Lithuanian society calculated by the Institute of Civil Society shows that civil power in Lithuania is growing (in 2019, this indicator was the highest during the entire period of its calculation), but it remains relatively low - about 39.7 points out of 100. Low participation of non-governmental organizations , in community activities. in 2017 the data of a representative survey of the Lithuanian population showed that even 63 percent individuals do not belong to any organization or group. And after all, more active participation in organizations, especially those that require collective action, encourages the attitude of citizens to resist.

The roots of the problem undoubtedly lie in education. There is no strategic and systematic approach to the development of citizenship and patriotism, respectively - to the creation of a system of universal resistance. The Ministry of Education, Science and Sports has not yet shown leadership on this issue. Now the responsibility seems to be transferred to the Ministry of National Defense. Although the latter already prepared a civil resistance curriculum two years ago, it created opportunities for teachers to improve their qualifications in this area. Civic and patriotic education focusing on practical results is given a lot of attention in Estonia itself. In this country in 2011 an optional defense education program was approved, which is implemented in 128 schools out of 149. Its duration is 70 lessons, 35 of which take place in the classroom and in field conditions in camps. About 6,000 students participate in the lessons. Following this Estonian example, in the same year, the optional physical education module "National Defense" was introduced in Lithuania, since 2017. September 1st - optional module "National security and national defense", which can be chosen by students of senior classes. However, these subjects are not popular enough, not all schools have the option to choose them - the latter module is only available in 38 schools out of more than a thousand. There is a subject of citizenship education in schools, but it lacks attractiveness and relevance, it provides theoretical knowledge about the structure of the political system, but has little connection with practical activities, current affairs of the country and the world. There is also the question of competences for ensuring quality civic education, effective integration of national security and national defense topics into other educational subjects and schools life. In the field of non-formal education, there are youth shooting clubs in schools, but not all schools have them. The approach to civic and patriotic education also causes problems. The effectiveness of the programs is not measured by the content of the programs, but by the number of students attending them. Likewise, cooperation with public organizations is based more on formal funding than on program content. The Ministry of Education, Science and Sports must take the lead This must change. The Ministry of Education, Science and Sports must see a long-term interest - the integration of civil resistance, national defense and national security subjects into formal and non-formal education programs. For this, it is necessary to further strengthen the cooperation of the national defense system with educational institutions. This would create wider conditions for teachers to improve their competences, strengthening the attitudes of citizenship, providing knowledge in the field of national security and defense and the ability to apply them in the process of educating students. The shooters' union is even ready to prepare training programs. Also, learning about defense and security should not be limited to students in grades 11-12. Physical education "National Defense" "National Security and National Defense" modules must also be available for the 9th-10th grades, when the largest number of students can be reached. The content of the subject programs themselves needs to be reviewed. In this case, it is necessary to answer the question of how much that content unites, how it interests young people with different values ​​and beliefs. Because the continued polarization of values ​​eventually reduces society's resistance or, accordingly, the readiness to resist in the event of aggression. It is also necessary to improve information about the aforementioned optional subjects and the division of young shooters' groups in secondary schools and gymnasiums. In order to make the students more interested, the training could be conducted by professional soldiers who have accumulated a lot of experience and left the reserve. However, schools themselves can take the initiative and not wait for action from the ministry. Especially since there are also examples of success. Here, since 2001, the Alsėdžių Stanislovas Narutavičius High School has been running a defensive-civic education program created on its own initiative. The high school, which nurtures the traditions of citizenship, invites students from all over Lithuania who lack motivation for statutory professions to study. Finally, so that the efforts to achieve a breakthrough in civic and patriotic education do not become a formality or simply placing a bird in the right place, it is necessary to have clear evaluation criteria that allow measuring changes. For this, it is necessary to create and implement a monitoring system for civic and patriotic education, showing which activities and tools allow to achieve the best results. Universal defense has been talked about for several years now, and finally concrete steps have been taken to create such a system. However, in order not to stop halfway or to get stuck in electoral cycles, there is no delay. Everyone - state institutions, educational institutions, private and public sectors - must understand their role and not neglect it. Google translate from original:  https://www.delfi.lt/news/ringas/politics/laurynas-kasciunas-kuriant-visuotines-gynybos-sistema-butina-atsigrezti-i-pilietini-ir-patriotini-ugdyma-86917101