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Defense Ministry to submit proposals on improving military education

Putin: higher military education development should be planned for a long period, officers' training should be improved

RYAZAN, November 15, (ITAR-TASS) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Defense Ministry to present proposals next March for the further improvement of the military education system for the period up until 2020.

Higher military education development should be planned for a long period, he noted at a meeting in Ryazan on Friday.

The president also noted that training of officers should be improved. The new Law on Education gives wide powers to military educational institutions and appropriate departments, and they should be used properly, he added.

Putin urged to regularly analyze how graduates served, how they used their knowledge and skills and what was needed. The curriculum should be corrected based on the analysis, he noted. He also said that the latest technologies and the best of the domestic and foreign experience should be introduced in the training process.

Such an analysis will be used to determine what models of weaponry and training simulators are need for the future. Students should use not only present-day weapons and vehicles, but also models that will be accepted for service in the next few years, Putin added.

The president arrived in Ryazan on Friday to visit the Airborne Troops Command Academy, which marked the 95th anniversary on November 13.

Putin laid a wreath at the monument to graduates from the Ryazan airborne troops academy who died in service.

Other participants in the ceremony -- Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Commander of Airborne Troops Vladimir Shamanov, presidential envoy to the Central Federal District Alexander Beglov and the Ryazan Region's Governor Oleg Kovalyov -- laid red roses at the monument. They stood for a minute's silence.

Putin also laid flowers at the monument to Gen. Margelov and visited the memorial complex. There are black marble plaques with the names of all the 53 Heroes of the Soviet Union and 74 Heroes of Russia who graduated from the academy.

The president held a meeting to discuss military education issues. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made a report.

Many hope that after Shoigu's appointment as defense minister, higher education schools and specializations abolished under the former ministry leadership will be restored.

The number of students admitted to military academies increased 7.5 times this year. About 15,000 people became first-year students of the Defense Ministry’s institutions in 2013.

The Defense Ministry has already corrected the military education management system, making educational institutions subordinate to deputies to the minister and commanders.