Thousands of WYF-2024 participants will listen to lectures of the federal educational marathon Knowledge.First.

On March 2, for the seventh time, the educational marathon Knowledge.First of the Russian Knowledge Society opened. The flagship event of the educational organization was launched as part of the educational program of the World Youth Festival (WYF) - the most large-scale youth event in the chronicles of the XXI century, organized by the decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sirius. The marathon will last five days and cover six sites of the World Youth City: WYF International Airport, pavilions "Yamal", "Nizhny Novgorod", "Kazan", "Belgorod" and "Moscow". Thousands of Russian and international participants will get new knowledge and inspiration from outstanding lecturers from different countries. The most remarkable speeches, open dialogues, workshops and will be broadcast for all comers on the round-the-clock media channel Knowledge.TV.

The Knowledge Society is the general partner of the educational program of the World Youth Festival, and the flagship marathon Knowledge.First will become one of its main events. Maxim Dreval, Director General of the Russian Knowledge Society, was the first to greet the participants of the event. 

"This is the first time our marathon is held as part of the World Youth Festival. And it is not by coincidence, because knowledge has always united countries and continents, knowledge helps us to move forward together and understand each other. Today, tens of thousands of young people from different countries gathered here on the Sirius Federal Territory. This clearly proves that all attempts to cancel Russia are unsuccessful. Nowadays Russia is in the forefront of the stand for truth and a new just multipolar world. And in this world everyone has room for fulfillment and development. I am convinced that any success is based on dreams and knowledge. Today and for all five other days, outstanding people from different fields and different countries will perform before you. And I believe that their achievements will help you to form your own dream, and their knowledge and experience will serve as a foundation for the implementation of this dream," — Maxim Dreval said .

The main point of the educational marathon Knowledge.First is related to the mission of the WYF-2024: to strengthen the image of Russia as an open state, acting as an ambassador of the multipolar world. The tracks of the marathon are in line with the Festival: "Responsibility for the fate of the world", "Multinational unity", "A world of opportunity for everyone", "Saving the family for future generations" and "We stand together with Russia". 

In five days more than 100 lecturers from Russia, Austria, India, Serbia, Turkey, Brazil and other countries will give lectures at the marathon. They will speak to the children about fundamental state, economic and social processes, geopolitics, mutually beneficial international cooperation, traditional values, and cultural exchange between countries. We will discuss the development of education and science, opportunities for youth development around the world, promising domestic and international projects for young professionals from different industries. All this knowledge will be useful for the guys both for self-fulfillment and for building fair, equitable relations in the world, because only together you can really effectively overcome difficulties and achieve success.  

The educational program is complemented by a film-lecture called Knowledge.Cinema, which includes daily screenings of feature and documentary films, as well as lectures and creative meetings with famous actors, directors and producers. 

In addition, the Society prepared performances in cooperation with the Tavrida Art Cluster: a musical and patriotic performance "Faith, Hope, Love", a literary and musical composition "The Real", and a musical and dramatic performance "There Was Such a Guy". Another cultural project is "Word Principle", thanks to which the participants of the World Youth Festival will hear the works of young prose authors read out by professional actors. After the screenings, the audience can meet the actors and attend autograph sessions. 

During all the days of the Festival in the World Youth City there is a multimedia exhibition of the National Photo Contest "Knowledge.Russia" based on the results of the national photo contest of the same name of the "Knowledge" Society. Its visitors can see 28 works by professionals and amateurs from 10 regions of our country, who reflected their view on the achievements of modern Russia through photographs. The atmosphere accompanying them is recreated using augmented reality (AR) technology.

And the first event of the educational program of the Russian Knowledge Society at the World Youth Festival was the grand intellectual tournament Knowledge.Game, which on March 1 brought together 2,408 teams from all over the world on one online platform, where children competed in erudition, the ability to think logically and make quick decisions, strengthened teamwork skills and learned a lot of interesting things about our country. Among the teams that competed in the tournament, 350 teams are from the participants of the World Youth Festival. This tournament will be entered into the Book of Records of Russia as the largest by the number of teams participating in an intellectual game online at the same time. 

The winners of the tournament will be announced on March 2 in three categories: among the participants of the World Youth Festival, among all participants of the game, as well as among students of schools and institutions of secondary vocational education. All nine winning teams will be awarded prizes from the Knowledge Society. And the team that is the strongest among the teams of students of schools and vocational education institutions will also go to the final tournaments of the Knowledge.Game track.

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Overview:

The World Youth Festival is held in accordance with the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin to develop international youth cooperation. At the first meeting of the Organizing Committee chaired by Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration, it was decided to hold the Festival in the Sirius Federal Territory.

20,000 young leaders in education, science, international cooperation, culture, volunteering, charity, sports, business, media, etc., including 10,000 foreign participants, will take part in the WYF 2024. For the first time in the history of the festival movement, teenagers from 14 to 17 years old had the opportunity to join the event, including 500 from Russia and 500 from abroad. 5,000 volunteers from all regions of Russia, including 228 residents of the LPR, DPR, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Regions be involved in the organization and delivery of the Festival. The organizer of the World Youth Festival is the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), the operator of the WYF-2024 is the Directorate of the World Youth Festival.

The first Education Marathon was held in May 2021 and became a symbol of the reboot of the Russian Knowledge Society. The next marathon was dedicated to Knowledge Day and was held from September 1 to 3, 2021. The third Education Marathon took place from May 17 to 19, 2022, and was focused on the new opportunities available to young people in different fields. The fourth marathon was held from August 31 to September 2, 2022, and for the first time, residents from new regions joined the marathon. The fifth marathon was held from April 24 to 26, 2023. More than 850 lecturers shared their experience during the marathon. The sixth educational marathon Knowledge.First took place from November 4 to 6, 2023. It started at the same time as the opening of the Russia International Exhibition and Forum and was conceptually integrated into its theme.

The Russian Knowledge Society traces its history back to the Soviet public organization founded in 1947 on the initiative of representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia as the All-Union Society for the Dissemination of Political and Scientific Knowledge (since 1963 — the All-Union Knowledge Society, since 1991— the Knowledge of Russia Society). Members of the Society were engaged in popularizing science and lecturing on the achievements of the Soviet economy and industry. In 2016, Knowledge of Russia was transformed into the Russian Knowledge Society. On April 21, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the need to restart the Russian Knowledge Society on a modern digital platform in his address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.