“The Committee” of the State Council on Education, Science, Youth and Sports rejected the amendment of the Crimean “vice-speaker” Remzi Ilyasov to the draft law on education, according to which it was proposed to make the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar language learning compulsory in the Republic. KrymMedia informs about that.
According to the opinion poll conducted in Crimean schools, 74% of parents speak for making these subjects optional, 16% of respondents think that either the Crimean Tatar or the Ukrainian language should be compulsory and 8% of them believe that it is necessary to make learning of all national languages compulsory in schools, the first deputy of the “minister” of Education, Science and Youth of Crimea Natalya Zhurba said.
“One or two hours per week could be allowed by means of changes in the curriculum, but it won’t provide the time, which is necessary for adequate study of languages,” Zhurba said.
The deputy of the “State Council” of Crimea Anatoliy Zhilin voiced the opinion that introduction of two compulsory languages could dent the learning of the Russian language. In turn, the “head of the Committee” Vladimir Bobkov believes that it is necessary to keep the right to choose the medium of instruction in Crimean educational institutions, as it is provided by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
“Each educational institution should choose the language of instruction. Last school year about 5 thousand parents chose the Crimean Tatar language of instruction and about 2 thousand – the Ukrainian one,” Bobkov said.
As a result, the Committee rejected the amendment of Remzi Ilyasov and decided to create an ad hoc working group to prepare the plan for the development of national languages.
