Public Awareness
Respect towards Latvian State, people and national security should be taught from an early primary-school age. Children need to learn critical thinking. Teachers should deliver patriotic education and focus on national identity-specific competencies in children. National defence course for schools is the first step towards coordinated and comprehensive education on how to respect Latvia. Ministry of defence has also developed an emergency response simulation for young people. It teaches them about various emergencies and how to act to act and behave in the potential aftermath of various incidents.
It is also important to bridge the divide and promote trust between government and society. This can be achieved by means of educating and raising awareness. Experts of various fields should use direct communication, such as workshops, conferences and discussions, to give educators, media, large and medium-size enterprises, local governments and other key national sectors better understanding of how national defence is structured, what are the roles and duties of these stakeholders in comprehensive defence system. It is also important to create cooperation platforms for educators and other civilian sectors to collect feedback from stakeholders. This would allow national defence and security authorities to gather information about civic initiatives, opinions and proposals on how to create and develop comprehensive defence framework.
Moreover, Latvia should develop a strategy on how to implement comprehensive national defence and statehood concepts in higher education in a manner that captivates and motivates students to learn about comprehensive national defence and how to play a part in it. NAF needs to continue upgrading its military medicine capabilities, enhance cooperation with local universities to integrate military medicine into university programmes. NAF should also involve healthcare providers and professionals in emergency management and response training to meet various threat scenarios. Government should regularly commission research projects to create a sustainable research community. Research on various topics from social sciences to science and engineering should evolve into a national defence innovation platform.
Efficient training of future military commanders and strong leadership of military officers is provided by dedicated college created by Ministry of Defence. Colonel Oskars Kalpaks Military School is a vocational school where students can study general subjects and learn skills and values that allow them to advance their intellect and become leaders who possess high sense of responsibility and have the necessary fitness levels to endure strenuous physical and mental challenges.