Language Research

5. Costs: What does it cost in terms of money, time and government resources to police the country's language restrictions?

Updated (April 2008)

RUSSIAN MEDIA CRITICISM OVER VAKARCHUK'S STATEMENTS

Recent statements of the Ukrainian Education Minister Vakarchuk on Russian language role in higher education have been criticized and distorted in Russian media. They reported that, following closures of cinemas showing films in Russian, Ukrainian officials are out to fight “russification” in higher education. While Russian media informed that “young faculty members will have to learn the state language over a short period, with advanced-age professors being let off the hook”; according to ITAR-TASS, the Minister Vakarchuk said that renowned academics will be allowed to teach their courses in Russian until their retirement, but young faculty members will have to learn the state language.

Addressing the ministry board session on 23^rd March, Vakarchuk stressed that his ministry's strategic goal is to ensure that courses in universities be taught in Ukrainian. He wants to implement a program similar to the one in secondary schools to improve the study of Ukrainian in higher education. He said that they have monitored the study of Ukrainian in secondary schools with instruction in languages of national minorities, and they have discussed steps to enhance the study of the state language.

Mr. Vakarchuk is aware of the fact that implementation of a program is a long-time process. Therefore, its first step will be to have the list of courses taught in Ukrainian and other languages in all universities. The Minister has also requested explanations why teaching is not done in the Ukrainian language and instructed to submit information on the percentage of courses taught in Ukrainian in the areas of liberal and applied sciences.

Following this, the ministry's department of higher education will analyze the list specifically for each university; prepare its proposals for the ministry board; and finally endorse a 3-year action plan that will, among other things, ensure mobility of students and faculty in line with the Bologna Declaration. [This declaration calls for ensuring free transfers of students, faculty, scholars and administration staff from one university to another].

Minister Vakarchuk also stressed the role of education and science as a strategic reserve for the country's development, society, economy and integration in the global community. “We are faced with the task of implementing a balanced reform of Ukraine's higher education coupled with the preservation of our national culture,” he summed up.

Russian media reports however say that this is not the first bid by Ukraine to pull the plug on Russian. “Many Russian-speaking Ukrainians are not against their children learning Ukrainian. But they also support residents of Ukraine's eastern oblasts and Crimea decrying any violence in implementing the Ukrainian program in education,” Russian media report.

Source: The Western Information Agency Corporation - ZIK, News-Society, April 10, 2008 http://zik.com.ua/en/news/2008/04/10/132931

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Updated (November 2008)

SEVASTOPOL REFUSES TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UKRAINIAN-LANGUAGE SCHOOL

The Sevastopol City Council has voted against partially financing the establishment of the first Ukrainian-language school in this city even though the law stipulates that the local government must contribute 20 percent of the costs.

There are more than eighty schools in Sevastopol, which houses both the Ukrainian and the Russian Black Sea fleets, of these only three schools are bilingual, where some classes are taught in Ukrainian but the majority in Russian. And there is no school in the city in which classes are only in Ukrainian.

The Ukrainian government supports the establishment of the Ukrainian-language school and has allocated 5 million hryvnia (about $1 million) for it. So the city has to put up about 500,000 hryvnia.

The Sevastopol City Council will vote on the issue again in December.

Source: Radio Free Europe, News, November 21, 2008 http://www.rferl.org/content/Sevastopol_Refuses_To_Help_Finance_First_UkrainianLanguage_School/1351484.html