Military cutting and sewing lessons – Kommersant Newspaper No. 215 (7416) dated 11/21/2022

On Friday, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko awarded 18 colleges whose students took the most active part in supporting the participants in the special military operation. More than 160 educational institutions have joined the “We are near” action of the Russian Movement of Children and Youth and the Russian Community of Colleges, their students have sewn more than 30 thousand products for soldiers, including sleeping bags, backpacks, pouches, sweatshirts, thermal underwear, balaclavas, camouflage coats, gloves and hats. As part of the Golden Hands of an Angel project, schoolchildren and students help to make tactical stretchers, evacuation slings and bags for their storage. Experts point out that the voluntary participation of students in such actions does not violate the law, but they doubt that the products sewn by them can significantly affect the situation with the supply of troops.

On November 18, Sergei Kiriyenko, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, awarded the colleges that most actively helped supply the army in the course of the “We’re Together” campaign and thanked their students. More than 160 colleges and technical schools joined the action organized by the Russian Commonwealth of Colleges and the Russian Movement of Children and Youth. Their students have already sewed more than 30 thousand products for soldiers: almost 9 thousand sweatshirts, thermal underwear, balaclavas, sleeping bags, gloves, hats and more than 21 thousand backpacks, camouflage suits and other things. Kommersant found out how the work is organized, in which students from technical schools and colleges across the country, as well as some schoolchildren, have been taking part since mid-autumn.

Yes, in Sakhalin The service technical school sews underwear for the mobilized: future cutters of all courses are involved in this work. Panties are sewn from cotton fabric – it is hypoallergenic and comfortable, Kommersant was told at the technical school. “The work is built like in a garment factory: first, patterns, then patterns, and then the actual sewing,” says student Anastasia Sokolova. “Norm – five items a day. Underwear is made in different sizes to suit fighters of any weight category. The director of the technical school, Denis Razdobreev, shared his plans with Kommersant: “In the future, we will sew fleece sweatshirts. Now we are looking for material. There is already an agreement that the ONF or the Entrepreneurs Support Fund will purchase the material, and students and craftsmen will send it off.”

Students of the College of Technology and Design Yakutia help sew sleeping bags, balaclavas, first-aid kits for the mobilized. As Kommersant was told in the press service of the Ministry of Education of the region, the students themselves volunteered for this work from the first days of the announcement of mobilization. “We were provided with all the materials by the Khotu-Tent enterprise, on the basis of which the tailoring is carried out,” said Anna Atastykova, a college teacher. She noted that students are credited with internships: “These are all the third and fourth courses of fashion designers, technologists, designers and seamstresses.” Students of technical schools and colleges Belgorod region the practice also produces sleeping bags, sweatshirts, balaclavas and thermal underwear, said Tatyana Kireeva, Minister of Youth Affairs of the region. In the third year of the Polytechnic College Gorno-Altaisk during the internship, balaclavas and five-point seats are sewn. AT Buryatia students of the Ivolginsky College of Traditional Arts of the Peoples of Transbaikalia (who also teaches tailoring) sew balaclavas and insulated sweatshirts for the mobilized. For this, the college has a sufficient amount of fabrics and materials on its balance sheet, the institution told Kommersant: “We sew from these materials, the participation of teachers and students is on a volunteer basis.” According to the government Rostov region, Volunteer college students from the city of Shakhty sewed and sent 450 balaclavas to military personnel. Organization “Chance” donated 11 rolls of fleece fabric to the volunteers. Press Service of the Ministry of Education Chuvashia told Kommersant that students of the Tsivilsky Agrarian and Technological College handed over waste paper, and with the proceeds they bought threads and material for making soldier sweatshirts. In other technical schools and colleges in the region, volunteers turned to individual entrepreneurs and “just caring citizens” for funding.

Most of these events are coordinated within the framework of the aforementioned “We are near” campaign with the support of the Ministry of Education and Rosmolodezh. Chairman of the Board of the Association of Volunteer Centers, head of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy Artem Metelev told Kommersant that the action does not provide for regional or federal funding. Various companies are providing supplies and fabrics to colleges, he said. In some regions, educational institutions and students find funds on their own. Now in Russia, 192 colleges are graduating students in the specialties of “seamstress”, “cutter”, “clothes designer”, according to the press service of the action, more than 160 of them have joined the action. “We receive lists of certain things from units, volunteer battalions, and then we inform colleges of what is needed,” says Mr. Metelev. “They themselves choose what they can do: someone makes balaclavas, someone makes gloves” . According to him, “there is no certain number when it will be necessary to stop.” To the question of “Kommersant”, does he think it is right that students, and not business or the state, are engaged in sewing clothes for the military, Mr. Metelev replied: “If people want to help, then what, we will tell them“ No need ”? Everyone helps in any way they can.”

Only students of technical schools and colleges take part in the action, however, in some regions, schoolchildren are also engaged in sewing clothes and equipment for the military in the special operation zone. For example, at technology lessons in schools and institutions of additional education Primorsky Territory children, under the guidance of teachers, sew and knit warm clothes for military personnel. The press service of the regional government calls it a “flash mob” and notes that schoolchildren prepared 594 pairs of socks, 79 pairs of gloves, 135 scarves, 16 snoods, 37 hats, 190 balaclavas, 50 first aid kits, 37 bags, 30 pairs of insoles, 17 sets of underwear and one sweater. Pupils of 6th-10th grades of school No. 3 in the city of Labytnangi (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) sew balaclavas and warm sweaters after lessons. At the school in the village of Solnechny, Surgut district (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug) teachers and schoolchildren sewed 150 balaclavas, which have already been sent with humanitarian aid to military personnel. “We buy all the materials at our own expense,” emphasized technology teacher Nina Voloshchuk.

In addition to warm clothing, volunteers collect tactical stretchers that are used in combat conditions to help wounded soldiers and civilians. Yes, in St. Petersburg this is done by the branch of the “Yunarmiya” of the Petrodvorets district with the participation of the local teenage and youth center. Materials and necessary tools are provided by the Golden Hands of an Angel volunteer movement. With its help, students and teachers LETI they also collect stretchers, with part of the funds for the purchase of consumables allocated by the university, and employees organized a collection of donations. Student volunteers join the movement Pskov State University: on the basis of the sewing workshop of the university, they sew stretchers by order of the 76th Airborne Assault Division of the Airborne Forces. AT Veliky Novgorod ninth-graders of one of the schools help to collect a stretcher.

If we are talking about the exclusively voluntary participation of schoolchildren and students, then the legality of these events is not called into question, says Dmitry Gorbunov, partner at the law firm Rustam Kurmaev and Partners. “Of course, the desire of children to do something voluntarily can be the result of certain messages from representatives of educational institutions,” he admits. “For example, in exchange for tailoring, students receive credit for practice or are exempted from some other compulsory work. However, this cannot be interpreted as a method of pressure.” The chairman of the All-Russian Student Union, Oleg Tsapko, told Kommersant that they had not received complaints about being forced to participate in such events: “Many students go to practice during their studies. If he is studying to be a seamstress and in this way will hone his skills – why not. But it is important that practice does not interfere with the educational process.”

Vsevolod Lukhovitsky, co-chairman of the Teacher trade union, considers such events in schools “the most common charity” not related to the production process: “I don’t think that the army lacks balaclavas sewn by children’s hands. Most schools no longer have workshops.” President of the Association of Developers, Manufacturers and Suppliers of Personal Protective Equipment Vladimir Kotov draws attention to the rather stringent standards for the production of overalls and protective equipment for the industrial sector and law enforcement agencies: “In order to supply them, it is necessary to undergo military acceptance procedures, check enterprises, production and materials used, licensing of such activities. Mr. Kotov points out that the country has the necessary capacities for the production of warm clothing and protective equipment, but admits that they are now loaded: “This was influenced by the rush demand and the destruction of supply chains. But I do not see anything critical in this situation. This is a completely controlled process. I deeply doubt that there is a need to use children’s or any other unskilled labor to meet the needs of industrial enterprises or law enforcement agencies.

Political scientist Konstantin Kalachev believes that such actions reflect the desire of “educational administrators to demonstrate their patriotism.” However, he also admits sincere voluntary work: “It is clear that some schoolchildren may have relatives in the war zone, so they really want to help. But the army must be provided with everything necessary without involving the labor of schoolchildren, pensioners or anyone else. But patriotism can be brought up in some other way.

“We almost didn’t receive items sewn by volunteers. But, I think, units of the active army accept and use them, – Dmitry Bastrakov, head of the Tyl-22 volunteer project (provides humanitarian aid and uniforms for military and civilians), told Kommersant. uniform and equipment, it is only in the rear army that the ustavshchina rules.

Ivan Tyazhlov, correspondent network “Kommersant”