April 24, Pozirk. A group of students from Belarusian State University Lyceum had a field trip to a firing range in the Barusaŭ district on April 12–14, the school reported.
The elite school in Minsk was known as an inclusive workplace for Belarusian-speaking teachers. Many of its students supported protests.
In 2003, media reported that the Committee for State Security (KGB) made a list of dissident teachers who were later denied contract extension.
Ironically, it was the KGB that organized the field trip.
Ten members of the Dzerzhinets patriotic club (named after KGB founder Felix Dziaržynski) “swapped their comfortable life for life in a dormitory for officers at the Belaja Luža range,” according to the report.
The students wearing military uniforms learned to shoot, establish radio communications, provide medical assistance, lay and clear mines, as well as the basics of radiation protection and the design of infantry fighting vehicles.
At the end of the trip, the students passed a comprehensive test and received gifts.
Earlier this year, BSU Lyceum director Taćciana Mamčyc suggested naming it after Dziaržynski, the Belarus-born Soviet politician who organized political reprisals and executions and founded the secret police.
Also read: Director wants freethinking school named after KGB founder
