Experts of the National Defence Education Bureau of the Ministry of Defence together with Social and market research company Saar Poll introduced today the results of the public opinion research “National Defence Education at schools”, conducted at the end of last year.
The research shows that national defence education among the Estonian students is highly valued both, from the point of view of teaching quality as well as the content. The majority of respondents are of the opinion that the relevant education at schools is of vital importance. Mention should be made of the fact that both, female and male students consider national defence education equally important; this was confirmed by 78% of the respondents.
Andrus Saar, director of the Social and market research company Saar Poll considered it a positively surprising fact that the Estonian youth would be so eager to join national defence organizations, either during peacetime or in case of a possible attack: 80% of the young people would join the Estonian Defence Forces or some active defence organization.
The reliability of EDF among young people was also high (79%) and the belief that EDF would be capable of defending Estonia in case of a military attack was higher among the girls.
A positive aspect is the youth’s positive approach towards joining NATO and EU, 94% of them are for joining NATO.
By way of conclusion the research comprising 308 students in Estonian schools show that EDF is highly valued which in return motivates young people to link their future with defence forces. The national defence education at our schools has a positive impact on the image of promoting EDF in a positive way.