The native language has become shorter – Society – Kommersant Kazan
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As it became known to Kommersant-Kazan, Tatar social activists from Moscow and other regions complained to the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Sergey Kravtsov about the reduction in the number of lessons of their native language and literature in schools. According to them, the options for new educational programs involve only 1-3 lessons per week, although before it reached up to five hours. And some options do not provide for the mandatory study of the native language. The Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation does not see this as a violation of the law. They note that schools themselves can add additional hours in individual subjects. The Ministry of Education of Tatarstan assured Kommersant-Kazan that this academic year the Tatar language is being studied in the same volumes as before.
An appeal to the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Sergey Kravtsov was sent “on behalf of activists of Tatar organizations and the public of Tatars in Moscow and other regions of the Russian Federation” (a copy of the document is available from Kommersant-Kazan). Among them are a deputy of the State Council of Tatarstan, chairman of the Union of Writers of the Republic Rkail Zaydullin, as well as representatives of Tatar organizations from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanovsk, Tver, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Tyumen and other regions of the Russian Federation. The signatories expressed “concern for the fate of the native languages of the peoples of Russia in connection with the adoption of new exemplary basic educational programs (POEP) of primary and general education” and demanded that the number of hours of the native language and literature be kept in schools.
Among other things, as social activists calculated, according to the new PEP, there was a “dramatic reduction in teaching hours allocated to the subject areas “Native language and literary reading in the native language” in grades 1-4, “Native language and native literature””.
According to the authors of the letter, in schools with Russian as the language of instruction, the number of hours taught in the native language has decreased by 42%, and in classes where instruction is taught in the native language, by 52%. In grades 5-9, the reduction ranged from 33% to 48%, they believe. That is, instead of 3-5 hours of the native language, 1-3 hours are now allocated for this subject.
At the same time, in the new PEPs there are learning options where there is no “native language”. “We believe that the almost two-fold cut in the lessons of the “native language” contradicts the goals declared by the state and the leadership of the Russian Federation to preserve ethnocultural diversity, which are based on the preservation and development of the languages of the peoples of Russia,” the public activists pointed out.
The authors of the letter also cited data that “Tatar language teachers are trained only in Tatarstan, although the bulk (two-thirds) of the Tatars live in other regions of Russia on their historical lands.”
“According to our estimates, only 7% of Tatar children living outside the republic study the Tatar language in some form,” the appeal says.
It notes the need to “restore the department of education in the native language in the Ministry of Education with the functionality of monitoring and creating conditions for the study of native languages and teaching in the native language”, as well as passing the exam in native languages.
The Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation in its response stated that the new exemplary educational programs were formed on the basis of sanitary rules (SanPiN), which limited the workload for children. However, the department emphasized that “additional academic hours” could be used to study native languages. This decision should be taken directly by the schools. The ministry believes that the new programs do not contradict the law. In a number of variants, the native language remains a compulsory subject. Curriculum options that do not include “native language” are “focused on general education organizations where the language of education is Russian and there have been no applications from parents of students to study their native language and native literature,” the ministry said. The Ministry of Education also emphasizes that the USE in basic subjects should be conducted only in Russian as the state language throughout the Russian Federation.
Tatar social activists were dissatisfied with the response of the ministry. “Schools are moving from six days to five days, new subjects have appeared. And the problem became how to meet these hours. Reduced “mother tongue”. Then there was an indication that you can increase the clock. We believe that the programs should be corrected and the options reviewed,” said Shaukyat Zhamnikhanov, coordinator of the Native Language in Moscow Schools initiative group, to Kommersant-Kazan.
In addition, he considers it a violation of the law to introduce variants of curricula without the compulsory subject “native language”. But the main issue he considers is the impossibility of taking the exam in his native language.
“If we do not resolve this issue, then we will bury our native language. The exam is motivation. If there is no such motivation, then parents will not want their children to learn their native language,” Mr. Zhamnikhanov explained.
He added that the ministry’s response “reflects a complete unwillingness to comply with the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of teaching native languages and ensure the constitutional rights of peoples to preserve their native languages.” “The Tatar people, like other non-Russian peoples of the Russian Federation, are deprived of their constitutional rights to preserve their native language at the legislative level,” the social activist concluded. According to him, the authors of the letter intend to continue to seek to expand the study of native languages in schools. “We are thinking of continuing the correspondence with the Ministry of Education, as well as turning to the State Duma about this,” he said. Mr. Zhamnikhanov emphasized that social activists “do not infringe on the Russian language.”
The Tatar language has been taught in Tatarstan on a mandatory basis to all children, regardless of nationality, since the early 1990s. According to the constitution of Tatarstan, the state languages of the republic are Russian and Tatar. The regional law on state languages provides for their study in equal volumes. However, this practice was abolished in 2017. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that “forcing a person to learn a language that is not native to him is just as unacceptable as reducing the level of teaching Russian.” Inspections began in the schools of the national republics. In Tatarstan, the prosecutor’s office demanded that the Tatar language be excluded from the compulsory part of the curricula.
In 2018, the voluntary nature of the study of national languages was enshrined in law. The State Duma adopted amendments to the law “On Education”, according to which the study of the native language and state languages is possible only with the written consent of the parents. At the same time, students can choose Russian as their native language. The authorities of Tatarstan initially opposed changing the law, but then agreed with the voluntary study of the Tatar language. In the 2021–2022 academic year, 63.34% studied the Tatar language by decision of their parents. The authorities of Tatarstan were able to achieve a change in the federal state educational standards (FSES) in order to teach the Tatar language in schools not only to Tatars. From September 1, the subject “The state language of the Republic of Tatarstan is the Tatar language” was introduced into the curricula of the region.
It was not possible to get comments from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation in connection with the claims of public activists. The ministry did not respond to Kommersant-Kazan’s request. The Ministry of Education and Science of Tatarstan assured Kommersant Kazan that this year “the number of hours of the native language and literature remained at the level of the 2021-2022 academic year.” They specified that changes were made to the exemplary educational programs in September. “The number of hours allotted for studying the subject areas “Native language and literary reading in the native language”, “Native language and native literature” has been increased to three hours for schools with Russian as the language of instruction, up to four hours for schools with the native language of instruction,— Kommersant-Kazan was told in the ministry.
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