In Belarus there are closed militarized boarding schools for boys starting from the age of 12, where they are taught skills in military affairs.

The aim of such institutions is to train personnel in military and sport specialties for the armed forces, other troops and military formations of the Republic of Belarus, as well as personnel for the bodies of internal affairs, Investigation Committee, State Committee of Forensic Expertise, emergencies bodies and units, and other power structures. To put it briefly: from their childhood, boys are trained to serve in the uniformed agencies of Lukashenka.

The priority is given to boys in a socially dangerous situation, that is, to children whose parents were killed, died or went missing in the line of duty, as well as child orphans and children deprived of parental care (removed from the families according to the presidential decree N. 18). During their studies the boys are provided with free living and accommodation in accordance with legal acts of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus. For a lot of such children, the enforcement agencies become, in fact, the only family they know, and Lukashenka is perceived as the “father”. Accordingly, personal devotion and loyalty to the “family” is formed.

A whole system of cadet schools in various cities and towns of the country is working in Belarus. They have been established and are acting on the basis of the presidential decree N. 54, dated January 28, 2010, “About cadet schools”.

Part of such institutions provide only the round-the-clock stay for the cadets: they live in the educational institution. Part of them have classes like normal school classes: a teenager is at school during the daytime, and goes home for the night.

The main cadet school of the kind, situated in Minsk, is called “Suvorov Military School”, and it is named after Aleksandr Suvorov, Russian military leader, who actively fought with Belarusians and the Great Duchy of Lithuania in the 18th century. For example, in 1771, Suvorov defeated the Belarusian Hetman of the GDL, Mihail Kazimir Ahinski, near Stolovichy.

The name of Aleksandr Suvorov is a bright marker of belonging of the cadet school to the “Russian world” and the historical narratives of the “Russian world”.

The Lieutenant General Aleksei Ignatiev initiated the opening of such cadet schools: on April 17, 1943, he addressed a letter to Stalin, suggesting to create one cadet corps in Moscow, as an experiment. Stalin made two modifications: the cadet schools were named after Suvorov, and there were founded 9 of them in different cities of the USSR.

According to the Soviet propaganda, those schools in Soviet times were established “in response to numerous requests of servicemen, former partisans, workers”; in the result, the Council of Ministers of BSSR, the Command of the Belarusian military district in 1951 sent a petition to the Council of Ministers of the USSR about the necessity to establish Suvorov Military School in Minsk.

In accordance with the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR N. 18461 dated May 21, 1952, the military school was open in 1953. The first year the enrollment of pupils was done simultaneously into various forms to upbring children of warriors and partisans of the Great Patriotic War, as well as child orphans, whose parents perished at war, i.e., street children.

Today there are about 400 pupils in Minsk Suvorov Military School. The tuition period is 5 years.

Minsk City Cadet School: 192 pupils.

According to the information provided by the Belarusian union of cadets, currently over 10 thousand cadet graduates live in Belarus. About 2 thousand of them are graduates from Minsk Suvorov Military School.

There is also Minsk City Cadet School – a state specialized secondary educational institution, providing 2nd and 3rd degree education (forms 8-11), basic general education and secondary general education. Also, the cadet school is giving primary knowledge and skills in military affairs and service in border troops, necessary for choosing the professions. The founder of the cadet school is the Administration of Education, Sport and Tourism under Pervomajsky District Administration of Minsk. It is sort of a “light” version of Minsk Suvorov Military School.

There is also a Specialized Lyceum of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (former Minsk City Cadet School # 1).

Educational Institutions of the cadet education system:

– Minsk Suvorov Military School,

– Specialized Lyceum of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (former MCCS #1),

– Specialized Lyceum under Civil Protection University of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry,

– Brest Regional Cadet School,

– Vitebsk Cadet School,

– Gomel State Cadet School,

– Grodno Regional Cadet School,

– Minsk Regional Cadet School,

– Minsk City Cadet School,

– Polotsk Cadet Corps,

– Mogilev Regional Cadet School,

– Slonim Cadet Corps at the premises of Secondary School N. 9 of Slonim.

Admission
Categories of children that have the right to enter the school without sitting the entrance examination, provided they pass the medical examination and the psychological test: children of military personnel, officers and staff of the bodies of internal affairs, financial investigation bodies at the State Control Committee, emergency situation bodies and divisions, that perished, died or went missing in the line of duty.

Categories of children with the right of admission without taking part in a competition, provided they get a mark not less than 3 (three) at the entrance exams:

• children of military personnel, officers and staff of the bodies of internal affairs, financial investigation bodies at the State Control Committee, emergency situation bodies and divisions, who have sustained a disability in the line of duty or as well as deceased in the result of wounds, contusions, injuries or diseases obtained in the line of duty;
• orphan children and children deprived of parental care;
• children who passed admission to a sports specialized form.

18. If places are available after admission of candidates possessing the right to enter the school without passing exams or taking part in the competition, the remaining candidates, who obtained the mark 3 (three) and higher at the entrance exams on Mathematics and Russian (Belarusian), are admitted on competition basis.

If the number of points scored is equal, candidates with higher results in mathematics have the advantage.

Terms of stay at the military school: round-the-clock
In 2006, sports specialized forms were created on the basis of the presidential decree (judo, Greco-Roman wrestling, bullet shooting, handball). Candidates, chosen and directed there by the Ministry of Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus in collaboration with the state body “Sport Committee of  Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus” are admitted to the sports specialized form of the military school, in accordance with the Ordinance of the Ministry of Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus dated October 09, 2006, N. 33/42 “On approval of the Instruction on the procedure of selection of children to form spots specialized forms of the educational institution “Minsk  Suvorov Military School”.

Material and technical support

– five meals a day;

– full provision of military clothes;

– physiotherapy room, dental office, clinic, pharmacy, infirmary with 25 beds.

– Sewing workshop, shoe repair shop, hairdresser’s, sauna that provide services to cadets of Suvorov Military School free of charge.

 Every year about 100 new cadets are admitted.
Every year about 50-70 persons graduate.
Cadets of Suvorov Military School have significant benefits for admission to universities:

They are admitted without exams on the following conditions:

Those who graduated from the Suvorov Military School in the year of entering the university with the marks six and higher for all the subjects of the curriculum and are directed to university according to the distribution plan  for further education on specialties of control of units and maintenance of service arms activity with professional qualifications in “management specialist – engineer”; or those who successfully completed their studies in sports specialized forms and are directed  according to the distribution plan for Minsk Suvorov Military School to continue education in the field of sports and physical education.

Are admitted without competition, (with rear exceptions, e.g., one cannot be admitted to a medical higher educational establishment without competition) those who have marks not lower that 6 (six) on the subjects of entrance exams in their certificate of education. To get such benefits they must enter the university in the year of graduation from the military school and be directed there according to the plan of distribution of the cadets of Minsk Suvorov Military School for further education in higher educational establishments of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Emergency Situations, military faculties at other higher educational institutions.