Lower thirds:

00:02 Anna Pshemyska & Nicholas Welsh
00:24 Serhiy Tkachuk | Director, Free Sky Drone School
00:48 Volodymyr | Student
01:25 Anna Kovalenko | Adviser to the Minister of Education and Science
02:00 Oleksandra Ilyushchenko | Teacher, Kyiv International Lyceum

Script:

00:01
Skilled drone pilots, from a young age. 
 
00:05 VOX Oleksandra
For speed and control. The main thing is not to crash.

00:08
10-year-old Oleksandra has been learning how to fly for about a year. 

00:14
At this school in Kyiv, drones have quickly moved from an after-school club activity to a valuable life skill. 

00:21
Serhiy Tkachuk, Director of the Free Sky Drone School
Drone control is like driving a car. It's a skill that will help you with anything. Drones are already used in many areas. In the future, they will be the only ones used, especially in areas where it is dangerous for humans.

00:34
Across town, this private technology school has been working with drones since 2019. Students have assembled 20 in a semester, most of which are almost ready to fly.

00:47
Volodymyr, seventh grader
It's quite meditative, it's just a soldering iron, hot metals, everything. You don't have to think too much, you just solder and solder, and that's it. And then I assemble them.

00:59
Now, high school students across the country are taught similar skills in compulsory classes. 

01:06
Drones are part of the "Defense of Ukraine" class in grades 10-11, which includes cybersecurity, first aid, and military technology.

01:14
The Ministry of Education says this is not about militarizating education, but about teaching new technologies.

01:23
Anna Kovalenko, Adviser to the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine
When we started this reform, we said the most important thing is that we do not want to turn children into soldiers. We do not want to reproduce the models used by our enemy. Our task is to prepare children for life in real conditions, because they all live in wartime

01:41
Oleksandra teaches drone technology at both private and public schools. 

01:46
She says she is against schools assembling drones for the army, which could make them a target for Russian shelling.

01:54
But war is not all that drones are good for. 

01:58
Oleksandra Ilyushchenko, computer science teacher, Kyiv International Lyceum Study Academy
When I first brought drones to class, the reaction of the children was that you are going to send us to war. ++ It was something they did not want to hear at all. ++  I say that drones are not only a sphere of war. ++ They are in the agricultural sector, in filming, in  the use of thermal imaging, geodesy, and so on. 

02:25
Nevertheless, for most older students, the war is a very real part of life. 

02:30
Oleksandra Iliushchenko, computer science teacher, Kyiv International Lyceum Study Academy
High school students are learning to fly drones and some of them know they need it. They know they will go to war if necessary, and will have useful skills right away.

02:42
Ukraine is now on the cutting edge in drone technology. 

And its society is adapting in response.