U.S. English Foundation Research

SLOVAKIA

Language Research

HUNGARIAN

After the independence of Slovakia, major progress in the matter of native-language use could be achieved only in 1994. During the tenure of the “Moravèik” government, the use of Hungarian family and first names was allowed as well as the posting of Hungarian-language place name signs.

The MATESZ (Hungarian Territorial Theatre) Drama Theatre was established in 1952 by members of the Hungarian section of the Village Theatre. Since June 1, 1990, it has functioned under the name of “Jókai Theatre” in Komárom. The legal status of the theatre was restored on April 1, 1999.

In the past, the Hungarian community in Slovakia has had access to one nationwide Hungarian-language daily. Since June 1 of 1999, an additional Hungarian daily tabloid, “Mai Lap”, has also been published. In addition, three general weeklies and monthlies, four scientific and art journals, six professional journals, fourteen regional and two religious publications, four family magazines, and one youth periodical are currently in publication. Due to the lack of state support for the minority media and press, several newspapers such as “HÉT” (Week), “NAP” (Day) and “Keleti Napló” (Eastern Chronicle), have ceased publication.

Established in November 1983, the Hungarian Language Program was limited under the former communist regime to a weekly 30-minute news review, broadcast on Mondays at 6:30pm. In 1989, the program was expanded to 45 minutes. Since 1991, only 7 to 8 minutes were devoted to Hungarian-related topics, and in 1993, the original pre-1989 30-minute broadcasting time was restored. In 1997, the airtime was increased to one hour.

The core of the current radio broadcast is the live musical, information, and entertainment program entitled “Pavilon”. The 45-hour a week show airs from Monday to Friday from 2:30pm to 6:30pm. The Daily Chronicle is broadcast twice a day at 1:00pm and 5:30pm. On Fridays, there is a 30-minute program starting at 1:30pm for the Hungarian-speaking Roma population. On Saturdays, a live program entitled “From Week to Week” sums up the political events of the week. On Sunday morning, a church program is broadcast, followed from 10:00am to 2:00pm by a four-hour live program, “Randevú”.

On April 1, 1999, the Editorial Office of Hungarian Programs at Slovak Television was established. In addition to the daily news, the Editorial Office also has at its disposal, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, a 60-minute program, which is inserted in the official program of Slovak Television.

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Updated (April 2002)

ROMANY LANGUAGE

Klára Orgovánová, government commissioner for Romany issues, said on January 17, 2002 that the Slovak Roma should have a chance to be educated in their mother tongue in addition to the Slovak language. The dictionary and the grammar book put out in 1971 and currently used in Slovakia use Czech-Romany translation so it is necessary to translate these books to suit Slovak needs.

Ms Orgovánová hopes the effort will be successfully completed in the first quarter of 2002. She does not believe the Romany language should be used as the only language of instructions in Romany schools, but “could be a sort of helping language in classes where Romany pupils prevail.” Another goal to achieve is to promote creating a secondary school that would primarily prepare Romany students for working in state administration.

Source: RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 6, No. 12, Part II, January 18, 2002

RUSYN MINORITY

(Comparison of Slovak and Ukrainian attitudes)

People living in the northeastern part of Slovakia who identify themselves as either Rusyns or Ukrainians are widely considered to have the same ethnic origin. However, all Slovak citizens have a constitutional right to free expression of their religious and national identity, so the Slovak government treats Rusyns and Ukrainians as members of two different national minorities with all minority rights granted by Slovak legislation.

According to the 1991 Census, 16,937 people (living mainly in northeastern Slovakia) indicated their ethnicity as Rusyn, and 13,847 people as Ukrainian, while around 50,000 people considered the Rusyn language as their mother tongue. The newly born Rusyn organizations have emerged not only in Slovakia, but also in the Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine, Poland, Romania and Hungary (previously, they existed only in former Yugoslavia, Canada, USA etc.). They all rejected the so-called “Ukrainian national identity”, which they believed was imposed by communist parties and Ukrainian nationalists during the 1950's.

The main institution allowed by the communist party to represent minority interests of Ukrainians in Slovakia after World War II was the Cultural Association of Ukrainian Workers (Kultúrny zväz ukrajinských pracujúcich KZUP) set up in the early 1950's. After its last congress in 1990, the KZUP was dissolved and two separate organizations were established: the Union of Rusyns-Ukrainians in Slovakia (Zväz Rusinov-Ukrajincov Slovenska ZRUS) and the Rusyn Renaissance (Rusinska Obroda RO). In terms of national self-identification, the ZRUS supports Ukrainian and the RO Rusyn orientation. Both organizations compete with each other in persuading Rusyns/Ukrainians in Slovakia about their national identity and in attempts to win government support.

In 1995, Rusyn Renaissance codified a separate Rusyn language what was a main prerequisite for introducing Rusyn at primary schools as well as to state TV and radio minority broadcasting. The ZRUS protested the move, claiming that Rusyn is only a dialect of the Ukrainian language and that the Rusyn nation does not exist. Leaders of the Rusyns argue that the Slovak government is subject to pressure by Kyiv, which views efforts to recognize a separate Rusyn nationality as an anti-Ukrainian move.

The different official treatment and also status of Rusyns in Slovakia and Ukraine became a point of certain misunderstanding in Slovak-Ukrainian relations in the first half of the 1990's. The Ukrainian government addressed its Slovak counterpart in 1994 with the proposition to establish a common Committee on Minority Issues. Its main interest was to influence the Slovak government to reduce its support of the Rusyn minority in Slovakia because it indirectly increased Rusyn separatism in the Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine. After the October 1994 elections, a new Slovak government stopped supporting any ethnic minorities in Slovakia, so the issue was not so hot. In any event, Slovakia has officially recognized Rusyns as a national minority, while Ukraine did not. The minorities' policy of the new Slovak government elected in 1998 is positive and liberal, granting minority rights and supporting minority community activities.

The bilateral Ukrainian-Slovak Committee for National Minorities, Education and Cultural Affairs held its first session in Kyiv in February 1995. Both sides agreed that the committee would meet regularly at least once a year. At the second meeting in Bratislava in 1996, both sides stressed that any demand for territorial, administrative or other forms of autonomy based on ethnic principles is unacceptable and they refused any ethnic separatism which could destabilize this region of Central and Eastern Europe. They also demanded that representatives of the two minorities profess loyalty to the respective states in which they live. According to the Protocol of the Fourth Committee Session in 1998, both sides agreed to include representatives of two minority organizations, the Association of Rusyns-Ukrainians in Slovakia (ZRUS) and Slovak Matica in Uzhgorod, in the Committee.

Source: Alexander Duleba, Rusyn Question and Minorities in Slovak-Ukrainian Relations, Research Center director of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association in Bratislava,

http://wwics.si.edu/kennan/ukraine/briefs/duleba.htm

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Updated (June 2002)

ROMA

The Constitution guarantees the right of national minorities to be educated in their own languages (Article 34). The School Act, however, limits the exercise of this right to specific minorities only.¹ Romani is not listed among the languages that can be used in primary and secondary school education.

Approximately 70 percent of Slovak Roma speak the Romani language as their mother tongue. There are no schools with the Romani language of instructions, despite the fact that many Roma children have a poor command of Slovak or do not speak Slovak at all when they begin school, especially in the Eastern part of the country. In practice, some teachers use Romani as a “supporting language” in the early grades but this is on a strictly voluntary basis, and not a result of the state policy.

The government of former Prime Minister V. Meciar justified the lack of state-supported education in Romani by arguing that “many Roma children cannot speak Romani” and that the number of dialects is a “complicating factor”. The current government has stated that Romani will be used only as a “supporting language of instructions, depending on a need and interest.” As a result, the Strategy for Roma is silent with regard to the introduction of Romani classes or the employment of Romani-speaking teachers, focusing instead on improving Slovak linguistic proficiency among Roma children.

Romani was codified in Slovakia in 1971 and the argument that Roma parents are not in favor of education in Romani is based on a controversial survey conducted by the Meciar's government in 1994. Nonetheless, the Government continues to report a “lack of interest on the side of Roma parents to have this subject introduced.” Roma leaders claim that a growing number of Slovak Roma place great value on the protection and preservation of their language.

There has been some official support for education and Roma culture. A secondary School of Arts, offering classes in music, drama, dance, and acting especially for Roma students, was established in Kosice. Nitra University has operated a department of Romani Culture since 1992, and a specialization in teaching Romani children since 1999.

Ensuring input from Roma during the preparation of school materials on Romani culture is crucial. A recently published textbook on Romani history has been criticized by the Slovak Roma Initiative (RIS) on the grounds that it presents Roma in a negative light, and focuses on how Roma are different from other groups rather than describing their history.

The 1999 Law on the Use of Languages of National Minorities specifies that the right to use minority languages may be exercised in municipalities where a minority group constitutes at least 20 percent of the population. This requirement has left some municipalities with a combined minority population of over 100,000 outside the sphere of protection.

The single greatest obstacle to enjoy minority language rights for Roma is a limited number of Romani-speaking employees in the public administration. The European Commission noted that in 2000 Roma did not exercise the right to use their mother tongue in any of 57 villages, in which they officially constitute more than 20 percent of the population.

MEDIA

Slovak national radio is under a legal obligation to contribute to the culture of the national minorities living in Slovakia,² and Slovak public television is obliged to ensure broadcasting of minority language programs that promote minority interests and culture.³

Minorities publish numerous periodicals, and have their own programs (and programs about them) broadcast by Slovak public television. According to one media monitoring survey, during the period from April to June 2000 Slovak media devoted only one percent of their combined airtime to minority issues, with Roma receiving no positive coverage, and other minorities, such as the Czechs, Ukrainians and Ruthenians, receiving no coverage at all.

The Ministry of Culture has provided funding for a number of Romani journals, particularly since 1999. Slovak public television produces the Roma magazine “Romale” every week, but relatively little time is devoted to radio programs in the Roma language, with a single 20-minute weekly program of news and cultural information for Roma on Presov public radio.

Source: http://www.eumap.org/reports/content/10/703/minority_slovakia.pdf The EU Accession Monitoring Program Report on Minority Protection, Open Society Institute 2001 on

http://www.eumap.org/reports/content/10

¹ Czechs, Hungarians, German, Polish, and Ukrainians/ Ruthenians, Act No.29.1984 on the Network of Primary and Secondary Schools as amended, Article 3, Para.1.

² Law 255/1991 Coll. from 24 May 1991 on Slovak Radio as amended, Art.6 (d).

³ Act of the Slovak National Council No.254/1991 Coll. on Slovak Television as amended.

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Updated (October 2002)

ROMA EDUCATION

Klára Orgovánová, the government commissioner for Romany issues, said on January 17, 2002 that Slovak Roma should have a chance to be educated besides Slovak in their own language. She believes the Romany language could be a sort of helping language in classes where Romany pupils prevail. Thus this language needs to be codified, because the dictionary and grammar books put out in 1971 in Slovakia use Czech-Romany translation.

The primary goal is to translate these books so they would suit Slovak needs. Another effort is to establish a secondary school preparing Romany students for work in state administration.

Source: Minelres Archive, http://lists.delfi.lv/pipermail/minelres/, RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 6, No. 12, Part II, January 18, 2002

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Updated (August 2004)

RUSYN DEPARTMENT AT THE SLOVAKIAN UNIVERSITY FACES OBSTACLES

Leading Slavists and scholars worldwide have sent a letter addressed to a new rector of the Prešov University in Slovakia expressing their concern on fragile status of the Department of the Rusyn Language¹ and Culture within the Institute of Nationality Studies and Foreign Languages.

Despite its international recognition and success, the Department is under threat because it still has not been given pedagogical accreditation.

The professors are concerned that in spite of ambitions that accompanied its foundation and its subsequent success, not enough has been done to ensure the future of Rusyn studies at Prešov University. They believe that the Department of the Rusyn Language and Culture founded in 1998, in accord with the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, has played a vital role in the revival and preservation of Rusyn. In 2003, the first qualified teachers for the Rusyn language at elementary schools graduated here successfully.

Elaine Rusinko, an Associate Professor of Russian at Maryland University, USA, and one of the initiators of the letter said that the academic senate limited the Rusyn language to an elective subject to make it difficult for students to complete their academic program and to discourage interested students.

According to the Constitution, a minority has the right to use its language in public domains if this minority represents at least 20 percent of the total population in a given locality.

In the 2001 Slovak Census, approximately 50,000 people declared Rusyn as their mother tongue.

There are ninety-two Rusyn-language dominated municipalities in six districts in the eastern part of Slovakia.

Source: Eurolang News, Brussels, August 11, 2004, by Simone Klinge, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4734

¹ Rusyn is an East-Slavic language by some regarded as a Ukrainian dialect. Rusyn is also spoken in Ukraine, Hungary, Poland and former Yugoslavia.

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Updated (March 2006)

SCHOOLS FOR NATIONAL MINORITIES

The minority educational system in Slovakia is an organic part of the Slovak educational system and as such is characterized by the same features as the Slovak majority system, both in terms of its structure and in terms of its function.

Article 3 of the School Act stipulates: "Training and education are carried out in the state language. Citizens of Bohemian, Hungarian, German, Polish and Ukrainian (Ruthenian) nationality are ensured the right to education in their own language to an extent proportion to the interests of their national development."

The Slovak Republic regulates the system of primary and secondary schools (the 1984 School Act) and the system of higher education (the 2001 Higher Education Law). The current Education Act guarantees to the members of ethnic groups the right to education in their native language within the scope adequate to their national development at all levels and types of schools and school facilities. Depending on the language difference, the following forms of school education are currently applied, in particular:

• schools or classes using the language of minorities being the language of instruction,

• schools with combined education, in which some subjects are taught in the minority language, some in Slovak and others are taught both in the native and Slovak language; they are in fact bilingual schools, and

• schools with compulsory education in minority language as a language of instruction, with other subjects being taught in the Slovak language (these are mainly schools/classes which include Ukrainian, Ruthenian or German language).

In addition to the basic forms of teaching at nationality schools there are also various forms of alternative education (similarly as in schools with Slovak as a language of instruction), especially in the field of language and social-scientific teaching, music education, and according to local conditions. The organization of teaching in schools with Ukrainian (Ruthenian) language of instruction is made more difficult due to outflow of pupils and declining interest in teaching in Ukrainian (Ruthenian) language, due to, among other things, insufficient follow-up network of schools of higher level. The development of schools with German as teaching language is more difficult owing to low number of pupils and diffused settlements of population of German nationality (Central Slovakia, Gemer, Spiš, Bratislava).

HUNGARIAN MINORITY EDUCATION

Slovak Hungarians have a developed educational system at their disposal mainly because the Hungarian minority was allowed to maintain some of its previous elementary and higher elementary schools in Czecho-Slovakia after 1918.

The language of instruction in Slovak-Hungarian primary and secondary schools is Hungarian. The state language is taught as a second language in the Slovak language and literature lessons. At each level of the educational system – from nursery to secondary education – there are schools run by Slovak-Hungarian common management, in which Slovak and Hungarian classes work parallel. In the Hungarian classes, instruction is held in the minority language and science subject terms (Mathematics, Physics, Biology and Chemistry) are taught within the framework of a special lesson, called 'special conversation', both in the upper classes of primary schools and in secondary schools. In most vocational schools, the special subjects are taught in the state language due to a lack of course books in Hungarian and a lack of Hungarian-speaking experts. The biggest disadvantage of this kind of education lies in the fact that students acquire the register of their jobs mostly in the majority language: they can hardly speak about their trade in their first language. In majority classes, no minority language is taught. Hungarian is not taught in schools with Slovak as a medium of instruction. In secondary technical schools, technical subjects are taught either partly or totally in Slovak.

In compliance with the 5/1999 Law, students, attending schools where Hungarian is the language of instruction, are given bilingual certificates of their education.

PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION

Kindergartens form part of the Slovak educational system. Attendance is not compulsory until age five, but the preparatory year before school is obligatory. Pre-school education is provided according to the Framework Program of Education and Training in Kindergartens. According to the data of the Ministry of Education, on 1 January 2004 there were 271 Hungarian and 92 Slovak-Hungarian state kindergartens and 4 Hungarian church kindergartens in Slovakia.

The language of instruction in the Hungarian kindergartens is Hungarian, both in the state and non-state institutions. Teaching of the Slovak language, done in a playful way, is compulsory for 30 minutes each day. There are usually 15-minute classes in the morning and in the afternoon.

PRIMARY EDUCATION

The network of primary schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction forms the basis of Hungarian minority education.

In 2004, there were 118 schools with both junior and senior sections, 132 schools with only junior sections and 35 Slovak-Hungarian state schools. Apart from the state schools, 12 church schools have been established offering education in Hungarian.

While the language used on the schools' premises is Hungarian, the state language is taught and acquired in the Slovak language class, both in junior and senior sections, one lesson a day.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Secondary education currently takes place in three kinds of schools: academic grammar schools, technical and vocational secondary schools. Students belonging to the Hungarian minority may study in their mother tongue in eighteen Slovak-Hungarian, three Hungarian state vocational schools and four private.

The language of instruction in academic grammar schools is Hungarian so it is in vocational schools. Unfortunately, the latter usually lack qualified teachers and reference books; therefore, the teaching in Hungarian is only partial. In certain cases, both languages are used within one teaching hour and sometimes only the Slovak language is used, depending on what books have already been translated into Hungarian and which have not. There have been no accurate empirical data on language use in the classroom so far.

HIGHER EDUCATION

The new Higher Education Act, approved in 2002 and amended in 2003, specifies the mission and position of higher education institutions. There are twenty state and five private universities in Slovakia.

Since the institutions of higher education with Hungarian as the language of instruction were abolished after the World War II, there were not Hungarian universities in Slovakia until the Selye János University in Komárno was established on 1 January 2004. Nevertheless, students could study the Hungarian language at the following institutions: the Comenius University in Bratislava, the Konstantin the Philosopher University in Nitra and the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica. Today, the situation is similar; students can study in Hungarian only at the departments of Hungarian language and literature because there are no other majors available in this language.

The Konstantin the Philosopher University in Nitra has always been provided teacher training in Hungarian at its Department of Hungarian language and literature. Moreover, the three faculties (Philological, Science and Pedagogical) of the university had Hungarian sections where students could study about sixty percent of subjects in their first language up to 2004. In the academic year 2004/2005, a new faculty was established: the Faculty of Central-European Studies. Its task is to train and provide staff for nationality schools. This new faculty now hosts the Department of Hungarian language and literature, all the Hungarian teachers of other departments, and all the students who want to carry out their university studies in Hungarian. The university also provides two to four-semester courses in the Hungarian language for those teachers who have obtained their teacher qualification and diploma in Hungary, in order to enable national recognition of their diplomas.

Training at the Selye János University in Komárno also started in the academic year of 2004/2005. At present, there are three faculties. The Pedagogical Faculty is responsible for training kindergarten and junior section primary school teachers, and there are four majors within the scope of teacher training. Furthermore, three majors can be studied at the Faculty of Economics and there is religious instruction and pastor training at the Faculty of Presbyterian Theology. The language of instruction is Hungarian, with the exception of some subjects that are in Slovak or English.

In the past twelve years, several consultation centers have been established in the areas where the Hungarian minority lives. These institutes of higher education, having their base in Hungary, organize distance or correspondence courses of training and teaching in Hungarian. Their work is rather problematic because it is hard to obtain national recognition of their degrees.

Source: Mercator Education, Regional Dossiers, The Hungarian Language in Education in Slovakia, http://www1.fa.knaw.nl/mercator/regionale_dossiers/regional_dossier_hungarian_in_slovakia.htm

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Updated (May 2007)

HUNGARIAN RADIO BROADCASTS FACING CUTBACKS

Slovak Public Radio has announced that broadcasting in Hungarian may decrease when transmission is switched over from medium wave to FM. At present, Hungarians can listen to programmes in their mother tongue on a daily basis from 12 to 8 p.m.

The head of public radio, Miroslava Zemková, told the press that minority language programs would have to share bandwith with Slovak programs.

In consequence, the leader of the Hungarian party sent a protest letter to the Minister of Culture and Ms. Zemková, in which he highlighted the measures taken to shorten minority language broadcasting time and referred to Article 11 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which stipulates support for minority language broadcasting.

Source: Eurolang News, May 22, 2007 by Marianne Tharan-Trieb http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2884&Itemid=1&lang=en

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