Tatarstan schools, after the claims of the prosecutor's office, began to abandon the compulsory study of the Tatar language. According to the new curricula, which will be introduced from the second quarter, parents will be able to choose which language their children will learn as "native" - ​​Russian or Tatar. The Committee of Russian-speaking parents of Tatarstan expresses concern that the schools of the republic will try to keep the study of Tatar as the state language of the republic. The World Congress of Tatars opposes "attempts to oust him from the sphere of education" in the region.

Lyceum No. 110 of the Soviet district of Kazan has published a new curriculum for the 2017/18 academic year, which provides for the voluntary study of the Tatar language. According to the document, the subject "native language and literature" is included in the part "formed by the participants in educational relations", it will be studied (depending on the class) for two to three hours a week. “The choice of the native language of study is carried out taking into account the opinions of the participants in the educational process,” the document says. The former curriculum provided for the compulsory study of the subjects "Tatar language", "Tatar literature" and "literary reading in the Tatar language" (in elementary school). In total, these subjects were allocated up to six hours a week.

The curriculum was changed at the request of the prosecutor's office, "the study of languages ​​is fully in line with the law," Artem Sakhnov, director of the lyceum, explained to Kommersant-Kazan. He clarified that in the coming weeks, parents should submit applications about what language their children will learn as their mother tongue. Depending on their decision, groups will be formed in the class, studying, for example, Tatar or Russian. It is assumed that the new curriculum will be effective from the second academic quarter (starts in November this year).

Other schools in Tatarstan are also changing curricula. A new plan "in connection with the protest of the prosecutor's office about the study of the Tatar language" was developed by school No. 43 of the Novo-Savinovsky district of Kazan. The institution proposes to leave "native language and literature" for three hours a week in the mandatory part of the curriculum (for comparison: 5-9 hours are allocated for Russian language and literature in grades 5-9). The plan will also be introduced from the second quarter. According to parents in social networks, in the schools of the Vysokogorsky district of Tatarstan, the study of the native language and literature is reduced to three hours a week. In one of the schools in Yelabuga, where "the majority signed up for their native language - Russian", the director allegedly said that "the hours of native Russian will be taught by the same Tatar teachers."

The Committee of Russian-speaking parents of Tatarstan opposes the preservation of the “native language” discipline.

“We are afraid that instead of the Russian language, children will study the history of their native land, folklore, songs, ballads,” the chairman of the organization told Kommersant-Kazan.

At the same time, in some schools, for example in Zainsk, according to him, “the students are forced to study the curriculum, where the Tatar language is preserved in its entirety as the state language of Tatarstan.” The Committee recommends that parents write statements to schools about their disagreement to study the Tatar language and Tatar literature and the choice of a curriculum for schools with Russian as the language of instruction, which does not involve the study of their native language.

Recall that the supervisory authorities check the schools of Tatarstan for the voluntariness of studying the native and state languages ​​of the republics in connection with the instruction of the President of Russia. In July, at a meeting of the Council on Interethnic Relations, which was held in Yoshkar-Ola, 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." He noted that "everyone should know the Russian language," and learning the languages ​​of the peoples of Russia is "a voluntary right." In Tatarstan, the Tatar language, like Russian, is the state language according to the regional constitution. According to the local language law, since the 1990s, Tatar and Russian have been taught on a mandatory basis in equal volumes.

As Kommersant-Kazan reported on October 17, the authorities of Tatarstan schools began to receive submissions from the prosecutor's offices of the districts. They demanded that the Tatar language be excluded from the compulsory school curriculum, noting that in the schools of Tatarstan "children of various nationalities study for whom the Tatar language is not their native language, and its study is compulsory, which is contrary to federal law."

The Ministry of Education and Science of Tatarstan, which previously insisted that the Tatar language should be taught in the republic without fail to all schoolchildren, does not comment on the prosecutor's office's submissions. According to the deputy minister of education and science of the republic, Larisa Sulima, specialists from the Prosecutor General's Office and Rosobranadzor will stay in Tatarstan until October 27. Departments, according to Vladimir Putin's order, must report to the president on the results of inspections by November 30.

At the same time, the World Congress of Tatars (WCT) spoke in defense of the “state Tatar language” yesterday. Recall that the executive committee of the organization is headed by Rinat Zakirov, deputy of the State Council of Tatarstan, and at the last congress of the CGT, a national council of the congress was formed - Milli shura, whose leader was elected vice-premier of the republic Vasil Shaykhraziev. The VKT stated that the schools of Tatarstan "are under serious pressure in connection with the long-term practice of teaching the Tatar language in the schools of the republic as a compulsory subject, according to its state status." The Congress recalled that the republics have the right to establish their own state languages, in accordance with the Constitution of Russia. The VKT declares “a strong protest against absolutely unlawful attacks on the state status of the Tatar language in the republic” and “attempts to oust it from the education sector” in the region. Mufti of the republic Kamil Samigullin also spread his appeal about the Tatar language yesterday. He stated that "Islam, as it was in the most difficult and difficult moments in the life of the Tatar people, is once again forced to defend the Tatar language."

Let us add that earlier signatures in defense of the Tatar language began to be collected in the “Tatar-speaking parents” group on the VKontakte social network. At the moment, about 1.5 thousand signatures have been collected. At the end of September, 60 writers of Tatarstan sent a letter to the President of the Russian Federation, in which they defended the obligatory study of the Tatar language in the republic's schools. And the activists of the Tatar, Chuvash and Mari national organizations, who on October 14 participated in a rally in memory of the defenders of Kazan, who fell during the capture of the city by the troops of Ivan the Terrible, established the Committee of the Volga and Ural Peoples to protect the national rights of the peoples of the Russian Federation.

The recent statement by President Putin, addressed to the heads of the regions, that it is unacceptable to force people to learn a language that is not their mother tongue, raised a reasonable question among the parents of schoolchildren in the national republics - did the president want to say that learning the languages ​​of the titular peoples cannot be mandatory? .. Recently, the Prosecutor's Office of Bashkortostan "in connection with the appeals of citizens" explained that "the teaching of native languages, including the Bashkir language, contrary to the consent of the parents of students, is not allowed." Vechernyaya Kazan asked the Prosecutor's Office of Tatarstan to provide a similar explanation on this issue.

IT'S NOT ABOUT US, IT'S ABOUT THEM

Recall that on July 20, the President of Russia at an off-site meeting of the Council for Interethnic Relations in Yoshkar-Ola said: “The Russian language for us is the natural spiritual framework of our entire multinational country. Everyone should know him. The languages ​​of the peoples of Russia are also an integral part of the original culture of the peoples of Russia. Learning these languages ​​is a constitutionally guaranteed right, a voluntary right. Forcing a person to learn a language that is not native to him is just as unacceptable as reducing the level and time of teaching Russian. I draw the special attention of the heads of the regions of the Russian Federation to this.

The head of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan, Engel Fattakhov, the president's statement, it seems like Putin did not say this about our republic.

But in Bashkortostan, where all children study the Bashkir language as part of the school curriculum, they paid attention to the words of Vladimir Putin. In early August, the head of the Republic of Belarus, Rustem Khamitov, told reporters that the Republican Ministry of Education "re-analyzed" the issue of language learning and decided to make changes to the "basic educational plans of the eighth and ninth grades", where the lessons of the Bashkir language will henceforth become optional. And the other day, the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Belarus gave an official explanation on the "language" issue in schools. In its commentary, the supervisory authority relies on Art. 14 of the Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation", according to which citizens "have the right to learn their native language from among the languages ​​of the peoples of Russia."

“Thus, the law enshrines the right, and not the obligation, to study native languages ​​and the state languages ​​of the subjects of the Russian Federation ... Teaching native languages, including the Bashkir language, contrary to the consent of the parents (legal representatives) of students, is not allowed,” the statement says. prosecutor's explanation.

As you know, in Tatarstan, there are also many parents of schoolchildren who are dissatisfied with the fact that children, regardless of nationality, are required to study the Tatar language in equal volumes with Russian. And in Tatarstan, even Russian children study Russian as a “non-native” language according to the reduced program of national schools. Therefore, Vechernyaya Kazan appealed to the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Tatarstan with a request to provide a similar explanation for parents.

The first reaction of the press service of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Tatarstan to our request: "Tatarstan is not Bashkiria, we do not have a similar situation with the study of native languages." And then asked to send a formal request.

“Understand, the question is very acute. Here it is possible to bring to extremist statements ... ”- the supervisory authority explained the seriousness of the“ language ”issue.

We sent a request to the prosecutor's office and are waiting for a response.

BETWEEN MOSCOW KREMLIN AND KAZAN

Meanwhile, Vechernyaya Kazan asked independent experts to discuss how Tatarstan differs from Bashkiria in the situation caused by Putin's statement, and what position our prosecutor's office will ultimately take.

The prosecutor's office of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Chechnya or the Ryazan region is a single federal body. She has uniform approaches and standards. The Bashkirs cannot say one thing, and the Tatars another, - considers the expert of the Public Chamber of the Republic of Tatarstan, lawyer Marat Kamalov. But it happens that the prosecutor's office makes mistakes. I do not claim that the opinion of the Bashkir prosecutor's office is wrong or correct. I do not know that. But Tatarstan has its own Constitution, which speaks of two state languages ​​- Tatar and Russian. Another thing is that the methodology of teaching Tatar in schools is extremely miserable, the textbooks are primitive. If it wasn't for this, children could learn Tatar with only two lessons a week.

According to the forecasts of the academician of the Russian Academy of Political Science Vladimir Belyaev, the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Tatarstan will simply get rid of the "language" issue:
- She will fidget between the Moscow Kremlin and Kazan and, as the Minister of Education of Tatarstan, pretend that this does not concern us. Meanwhile, the problem of learning the Tatar language is like an old unhealed wound. As before, so now I see one of her decisions - to teach children only colloquial Tatar and not five hours a week, as now, but two.

Political scientist and historian Rais Suleymanov believes that although Putin's statement was undoubtedly addressed to Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Tatarstan should not be measured by the same yardstick.

Tatarstan has a law "On the state languages ​​of the Republic of Tatarstan" ( has been operating since 1992. - "VK"), and Bashkortostan has its own language law. But in Tatarstan, it is said about the mandatory study of two state languages ​​- Tatar and Russian - in equal volumes, and in Bashkortostan, the obligation to study is not spelled out, respectively, local legislation does not contradict the federal one in this matter. Because of this, the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Belarus talks about the right to study Bashkir, and not about the obligation, - Suleimanov explains. - Moreover, the prosecutor's office of the republic at one time warned the head of Bashkortostan about the complete study of Bashkir in schools, without taking into account the opinion of parents. Rare, I must say, a case in prosecutorial practice. And now in Bashkiria, everything seems to be moving towards the fact that they will study their native language there on a voluntary basis. I assume that the Prosecutor's Office of Tatarstan will not follow the path of its colleagues and will refer to the republican law on state languages.

Ekaterina Belyaeva, head of the “Russian language in schools of national republics” community and one of the participants in the protest parental movement against the compulsory study of Tatar, agrees with Suleimanov - the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Tatarstan will appeal to the republican law on state languages:
- Except for Putin, no one will save us from the obligatory Tatar language. A few years ago, we, more than 300 parents, applied to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, but received a reply. Maybe now, when the agreement between Russia and Tatarstan has come to an end, the situation will change in our favor. But I would like the President of Russia to come to Tatarstan and explain to everyone what he had in mind.

They believe in the power of Putin's word, but they do not count on a positive response from the prosecutor's office in the public organization "Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Russian-Speaking Parents and Students of the Republic of Tatarstan."

After the president's statement, parents in Tatarstan waited for someone from the authorities to explain to us and legally substantiate whether we understood his words correctly. But for some reason, Putin says one thing, and officials - another, as if we live in two realities, - the chairman of the committee, Edward Nosov, is perplexed. - Now the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation is discussing a draft of new federal educational standards, and in it we, to our surprise, found a clause on the mandatory study of the state languages ​​of the republics. If such a federal standard is approved, then we will finally be overlaid with red flags. Therefore, we recently sent appeals to the office of the President of the Russian Federation, the State Duma and Federal Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva. And now we are preparing appeals to the Prosecutor General's Office - let it explain to us what Putin had in mind.

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On September 20, it turned out that 1,536 parents from 92 schools in Tatarstan had written a waiver of the compulsory teaching of the Tatar language for their children. This information was published in the group "committee of Russian-speaking parents of Tataria".

According to the report, parents from Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny, Nizhnekamsk and Zelenodolsk wrote the refusal.

The day before, the Society of Russian Culture of Tatarstan, as well as the committee for protecting the rights of Russian-speaking parents and students, addressed the head of the republic, Rustam Minnikhanov, with a request to declare the official position of the authorities of Tatarstan on the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the study of the Tatar language.

In their address to the president of the republic, the leaders of 2 public associations, Mikhail Shcheglov and Eduard Nosov, asked Rustam Minnikhanov to organize a parent meeting of the Republic of Tatarstan on the topic "Parents of the Republic of Tatarstan - for strengthening federal values ​​in the education system of Russian regions."

The topic of learning national languages ​​in the republics became relevant again after Vladimir Putin spoke on July 20 about the inadmissibility of compulsory learning in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation of languages ​​that are not native.

On September 15, a debate took place in Kazan on the topic “Tatar language in the education system of Russia, to be or.?”, which gradually turned into a heated discussion. It was not possible to reconcile supporters and opponents of the compulsory study of the Tatar language on a par with Russian in the debates.

The day before, Tatarstan lost its “special status” in the Russian Federation, since the republic’s special agreement with the federal center was not extended. Will the essentially anti-constitutional law of Tatarstan on the compulsory study of the Tatar language in the republic be eventually cancelled?

In fact, this is not just a problem of Tatarstan, - says Alexei Kochetkov, director of the Foundation for the Development of Civil Society Institutions "People's Diplomacy". - It concerns the whole of Russia. If we proceed from the fact that we have a social state, as it is written in the Constitution of the country, then such a state should not only take care of a decent standard of living, but also take care of raising the level of development of citizens. And knowledge of the state language plays an important role here.

Look what happened in the Russian-speaking part of Ukraine. When the Russian language began to be ousted from all levels of education everywhere, the Ukrainian language never rose to a higher level. As a result, now a significant part of young Ukrainians do not really know not only Ukrainian, but also Russian. And if he knows Ukrainian, then the scope of its application remains extremely limited. This is noticeable even when you read the Russian-language Ukrainian press. It can be seen how the level of literacy among Ukrainian journalists writing in Russian has sharply decreased.

And similar processes have taken place and are taking place in those national republics on the territory of Russia, where compulsory study of the languages ​​of the so-called titular ethnic groups is imposed to the detriment of the Russian language.

The Russian language is the basis of the entire Russian national culture, as well as the language of interethnic communication not only in Russia, but also in the post-Soviet space. Within Russian culture, not only Great Russians are successfully developing, but also representatives of all other ethnic groups in Russia. And if we impose some other language as a state language in one of the regions of Russia, the results can be sad. Yes, for example, Tatar nationalists will rejoice. But at the same time, not only Russian, but also Tatar youth will be at a disadvantage if they want to enter a university in Moscow or Nizhny Novgorod, where a good knowledge of the Russian language is required.

I finished school in Moscow. Tatars, native Muscovites, studied with me. They studied Russian at school, like everyone else, but no one prevented them from speaking Tatar among themselves and in their families, studying their native language and culture.

I have a feeling that people who talk about the need for compulsory study of the Tatar language really care little about the Tatar language and culture. They are more concerned with creating a different identity, different from the all-Russian one. Moreover, the continuation of the practice of compulsory (in fact, forced) study of the Tatar language will lead to increased tension already at the international level. It turns out that the state budget finances interethnic tensions in the country. As a result, this may lead to the fact that in our country the so-called elites of the titular ethnic groups will declare that their republics are ripe for independent existence. And all Russians who disagree with this will be asked to leave, as was already the case in the 1990s in the Baltics. (Actually, a few years ago in Kazan, Tatar nationalists were already standing with posters "Suitcase-station-Ryazan" - ed.).

On the other hand, we constantly emphasize that the peculiarity of Russia, the Russian world is that since the time of the Russian Empire we have preserved the diversity of cultures of all peoples living in our country. However, the preservation of culture is impossible without the preservation of the national language. Perhaps, there is ground for fears on the part of the same Tatar intelligentsia that few people want to learn the Tatar language if its compulsory study is canceled?

We know the example of Russian emigration after the 1917 revolution. Only in France, according to various sources, lived from 800 thousand to half a million people. This is approximately the number of some small people on the territory of Russia. I know a considerable number of third and fourth generation emigrant families who still speak Russian and know Russian culture. Moreover, the question has never been raised that in places densely populated by Russians, the French state should create and finance schools where the Russian language would be studied. Therefore, knowing your native language, regardless of where you live, is primarily a matter of choice. Yes, the state can support the culture of small nations at the local level. If someone thinks that this is not enough and it is necessary to study the Evenki language more deeply, there is a proven way - the creation of non-governmental organizations, private schools, etc. Those who believe that the language of their people must be supported, one way or another participate in the financing of all these initiatives. But the task of the state is to ensure that a person living in the same Tatarstan, regardless of whether he is Tatar or Russian, can receive a quality education, learn the state language of Russia and, if desired, enter a university anywhere in the Russian Federation. And it turns out that often the parents of students from the same Tatarstan have to hire tutors so that their children do not write with errors in Russian.

It is known that Tatars spoke less and less in the Tatar language in Soviet times. Refusal of the compulsory study of this language in school can lead to its virtual disappearance? Maybe it makes sense to make the Tatar language mandatory for those who have a Tatar passport, for example?

In Soviet times, in the same Ukraine, they studied the Ukrainian language in schools, Ukrainian authors, loyal to the Soviet regime, often got the opportunity to publish their creations in huge editions. However, few people read them. And until now, Russian-language literature in Ukraine is in much greater demand than Ukrainian-language literature, despite all conceivable and unthinkable prohibitions. In Russia, the situation is traditionally different. If it were not for the Soviet government, which is traditionally scolded by the same Tatar nationalists, today few people would even speak the Tatar language.

Tatar nationalists want to say - let your writers write such works, for the sake of which not only Tatars, but also other peoples will want to read them in the Tatar language. And everything will be fine with your language without the forced study of it by those for whom it is not native.

Forcing ethnic Tatars to learn the Tatar language, in my opinion, is also wrong. This is reminiscent of the policy of the Jewish communities, which locked themselves in the ghetto in the 17th century. And after a while, the Jewish youth could no longer leave this ghetto. It turns out that we are driving people into a cultural ghetto. And if a Tatar or mixed family does not want this? We again divide people artificially. A Russian of Tatar origin should have the same rights as a Russian of Russian origin. The walls within the state must be destroyed, not erected. Why create a wall between Russian Great Russians and Russian Tatars.

Most often, those who talk about multiculturalism, about additional preferences for one or another small nations, think about their own selfish interests.

In your opinion, will the federal center be able to ensure that compulsory education in Tatarstan remains only in Russian?

Russia has no other choice: if we want to preserve the unity of the country, this must be done. We are in a very difficult position in the conditions of a virtual second cold war. Many people simply don't realize it. If now the federal center gives in, all ethnic and even regional nationalisms will come out of all the cracks. And we will not at all preserve interethnic peace if we indulge the nationalists in the Russian republics, but we will finally finish it off. The only way to destroy Russia is to tear it apart from within. Since they are afraid to do it outside, they try to act through the creation of alternative identities. Our task is to strengthen a single Russian civilization, to which all the peoples of Russia belong, introducing into it our own ethnic characteristics.

In Tatarstan, was “forced labor” in Tatar exchanged for personal security?

Today's meeting of the State Council of Tatarstan the day before in the local media was announced as historic: the parliament was to make a final decision on the compulsory teaching of the Tatar language in the schools of the republic. As a result, the issue of language "coercion" was put on the agenda as the first item. But, contrary to expectations, the discussion was extremely casual - quickly and without debate. The issue was considered for less than 15 minutes, after which they quickly moved on to discussing the budget for 2018.

The prosecutor of Tatarstan acted as the main (and only) speaker Ildus Nafikov, who read from the podium dry in style, but devastating in content, a five-minute report. “The absolute priority is to ensure the implementation of the constitutional rights of citizens,” Nafikov recalled. - A decrease in the volume of teaching the Russian language in the schools of the republic has been recorded. The norms were observed only in 24 schools. Also, there was a violation of the rights and freedoms to voluntary study of the Tatar language with the imposition of final tests that affect both the transfer to the 10th grade and the average mark of the certificate. The intervention of republican and municipal bodies in the autonomy of educational institutions is noted. The totality of these violations not only violated educational standards, but also negatively affected the provision of freedom of movement and choice of residence by citizens within the Russian Federation.”

In total, according to Nafikov, during the inspection of all 1412 schools of the republic, the prosecutor's office and Rosobrnadzor recorded 3856 violations. All of the nearly 4,000 cases concerned what the Russian president had previously warned about - depriving Russian-speaking citizens of Russia of their constitutional rights to freedom to choose Russian as their mother tongue and impose Tatar as their compulsory language. As a result, a high decline in the volume of learning the Russian language, the state language of the Russian Federation, was revealed in Tatarstan.

Ildus Nafikov said that since the beginning of the check ( mid-October - EADaily) the prosecutor's office received 1716 complaints about the facts of "obligation" in schools to the detriment of Russian. “All of them are checked and allowed. The voluntariness of the study of the native language has been ensured where the curricula provide for its teaching. The prosecutor thanked the teachers who, during the check, promptly signaled to the prosecutor's office and Rosobrnadzor about language distortions in the educational process, about forceful pressure on teachers, students and parents, when Moscow "took up the language." “In difficult conditions, you reacted according to the state, wisely and correctly. They did not allow the incitement of discord, they ensured the continuity of the education process.

Nafikov, outlining the situation with the Russian language in Tatarstan, made the main emphasis on the word "strife" - a synonym for the concept of "extremism" ( Art. 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - approx. EADaily). “I must warn hotheads against illegal actions and statements of an extremist nature. They will be severely and resolutely suppressed, no matter who comes from. The prosecutor's office is against inciting passions and conflict situations.

In social networks, they have already noted the striking similarity of the intonation with which Nafikov promised punishment to “linguistic extremists” with the intonation Vladimir Putin when in 1999 he predicted death in a latrine for terrorists. From this, people's observers concluded: Nafikov spoke in parliament not on his own behalf, but on behalf of the President of Russia. Which is logical - according to the Constitution of Russia, the prosecutor of Tatarstan is accountable to the Moscow Kremlin, and not to Kazan. Yes, and Nafikov was appointed prosecutor in 2013 by Vladimir Putin, and not Rustam Minnikhanov.

From the dry tone of the prosecutor in the republic, they made the right conclusion: Moscow took the language problem in Tatarstan seriously and, as they say, will punish, regardless of the status, position, ratings of United Russia and other attributes of the federal "table of ranks".

The reaction of the audience in the State Council to Nafikov's speech is indicative. State Councilor sitting in the State Council Hall Mintimer Shaimiev mournfully silent. Although usually the ex-president of Tatarstan, when it comes to the attributes of "Tatar sovereignty", he does not skimp on emotions. From this, the observers concluded that Shaimiev himself, most likely, decided not to go on the rampage and warned other members of the "old guard" against this. Which, in particular, includes the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov(former Minister of Finance under Shaimiev) and the current Minister of Education of Tatarstan (mechanical engineer by profession) Engel Fattakhov. Judging by the fact that Engel Navapovich also did not react to the prosecutor's report, he correctly assessed Shaimiev's silence.

True, he heard Moscow's warning expressed by Nafikov and another "veteran" - the speaker of the State Council Farit Mukhametshin. He addressed the deputies with a warning "not to politicize the problem." Politicization is another key word of the "language" meeting of the State Council, a kind of bogey. Although the long-term imposition of the Tatar language on schoolchildren in multinational Tatarstan cannot be called anything other than nationalism, and can only be explained by the nationalist whims of the leadership. Tatar language to the detriment of Russian is a symbol of Tatarstan as a "sovereign state". Otherwise, the "fathers of sovereignty" since the early nineties nurtured "sovereignty" with only one goal - to secure the status of lifelong masters of Tatarstan, along with all the consequences - legal immunity and the ability to bargain with Moscow.

“The threat of the death of the Tatar language” due to Russification, assimilation, globalization ... as well as other far-fetched theses of nationalists in the leadership of Tatarstan are nothing more than pathos. A significant part of the deputies of the State Council has long been aware of the nuances "on the language issue." Most likely, this is precisely why the deputies preferred not to argue with how Moscow assessed the linguistic “well-being” of Tatarstan, but to approve what Moscow proposed in the person of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. According to Nafikov's statement, from now on the Tatar language can be studied in the region "only voluntarily, on the basis of the written consent of parents or legal representatives of students within two hours a week at the expense of the part formed by the participants in educational relations."

True, the speaker Mukhametshin did not do without a remark. According to him, the issue of studying the Tatar language in the schools of the republic "is of great concern to the public", and the deputies received many applications from "caring citizens." From whom exactly, to which deputies, and what was said in these appeals, Mukhametshin did not say. He also said: “The Ministry of Education and Science has a lot of work to do to adopt curricula in schools with the inclusion of the Tatar language in the amount of 2 hours. A set of measures is needed, including changes in the work programs for the Tatar language, updating Tatar literature, methodological documents, advanced training and retraining of personnel.”

It should be noted that since 2012, the school of each constituent entity of the Russian Federation, together with the parents of students, chooses a training plan from several offered by the federal state educational standard and the federal law “On Education”. In the case of Tatarstan (as with any national region), school directorates and parents have the right to choose for themselves both the notorious “regional component” and the general federal plan - without hours for the national language, but with an emphasis on Russian, literature and one European language. However, Farit Mukhametshin, as before, was silent about such nuances, and now he did not report it. As well as the fact that the mentioned “volume of 2 hours” becomes voluntary.

The capitulation of the ethnocracy was amusing to watch from the sidelines. Before Ildus Nafikov's report, the State Council in the republic was still trying to create the illusion of a protest wave with the help of administrative resources. Previously, in the image of man-made protection of "linguistic sovereignty" there was a conditional "teacher of the national language", who was left without a job. When this resource had exhausted itself, the ethnocrats covered themselves with Russian teachers appointed to the role of "selfless defenders" of the Tatar language to the detriment of the Russian language. The director of a specialized lyceum in Kazan was at the forefront of the anti-federal pedagogical front Pavel Shmakov- "Russian and Finnish teacher" (in 2000, Shmakov left for permanent residence in Finland, but in 2011 he returned to Kazan - ed.) EADaily ), an "icon" of liberal-oriented parents of Kazan schoolchildren. The Idel.Realii portal associated with Radio Liberty willingly quoted Shmakov, who stood up for “protection of cultural diversity”, who in the mind of the teacher-director was transformed in defense of language “coercion”: “We believe that it is impossible to divide children into Tatars and Russians, that the Tatars go to their Tatar, and the Russians go to play football. According to Shmakov, all schoolchildren should learn Tatar, and this will be the case at his school in the Sun.

Shmakov compared prosecutorial checks with walking in soldier's boots on delicate flowers. Prosecutor's checks outraged the teacher, who, in his desire to punish martinet inspectors, agreed to the point of absurdity: "They photographed children's underwear, personal items ...". But Shmakov's over-emotional and confused video interview had an impact only on people who were completely unaware of the realities of Tatarstan. And the fact that the vertical of the republic, listening to Nafikov, saluted, only confirms the well-known expression “one’s own shirt is closer to the body”: frightened ethnocrats, in order to maintain personal safety, quickly “surrendered” their native Tatar language, on which only yesterday they insisted on compulsory education whether not foaming at the mouth.

Note that in the same way - for the sake of "preserving everything acquired by overwork" (for 27 years of ethnocracy), the notorious agreement on the delimitation of powers between the federal center and the republic was quietly handed over, at the beginning of this year a whole cohort of previously "inviolable" national- activists. The centenarians of the high offices of Kazan, for the sake of peace and well-being, turned out to be ready to show a “multi-vector approach”, turning from defenders of the “State of Tatarstan” into “patriots of Russia”. Against this background, in the republic, in competent circles, opinions are sounding more and more clearly that Rustam Minnikhanov will not see out his term in the presidency of Tatarstan, and the “old guard” will still have to answer to Russian justice for all past ethnocratic “pranks”.

These opinions are partly supported by the early calculations of some Moscow experts. According to them, only the status of Tatarstan as a “super prosperous” region and the absence of conflicts saved the resignation of President Rustam Minnikhanov before. The illusion of "super prosperity" burst at the beginning of 2017, along with the collapse of the "empire" of Tatfondbank. And Kazan's desire to follow the old ethnocratic course at all costs led to Vladimir Putin's speech in Yoshkar-Ola and complex "language" tests in the schools of the region. According to the results of these checks, resignation is the simplest punishment that can be expected of the highest officials of the republic.

In Tatarstan, they do not stop discussing the possibility of abolishing the compulsory study of the Tatar language at school. Someone is "for", someone is "against", there are a lot of arguments from both sides. "Idel.Realii" decided to collect answers from various ministries and departments and tried to answer the most important questions of parents from the position of the authorities.

IN TATARSTAN ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT THEIR CHILDREN TO LEARN TATAR?

An organization created in April of this year - the "Committee of Russian-speaking parents of Tataria" - said that as of October 10, at least 2,805 applications had been submitted in the republic to refuse to study it. If you believe the map they provided, basically, they are ready to give up learning the language in cities in the east of the republic, in Kazan and areas near the capital.

ONLY RUSSIANS SUBMIT SUCH APPLICATIONS?

No, there are also ethnic Tatars among them. The reluctance to study Tatar at school is usually caused not by national hostility, but by the poor level of teaching the language, the lack of need to study it and the desire to improve the level of learning Russian, since this language is necessary for admission to universities.

I HEARD THE STUDY OF TATAR HAS ALREADY BEEN CANCELED SOMEWHERE.

News about this, indeed, constantly appear. One of the first stories is connected with the Naberezhnye Chelny journalist Alsu Gazizova. In early September, she wrote a statement. The teacher allowed her son Mark not to attend Tatar lessons. Instead, the boy was offered something to do at this time - for example, drawing. A few days later, Gazizova was summoned to the school principal, where they explained that there had been a mistake and her son should attend Tatar lessons.

CAN I WRITE A STATEMENT THAT MY CHILD DOES NOT WANT TO LEARN THE TATAR LANGUAGE?

Any parent or legal representative of a student can apply to their school with such a statement.

IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN, DO PARENTS HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE THE CURRICULUM FOR THEIR CHILD?

Parents or legal representatives can participate in the discussion and approval of curricula. Their opinion regarding the study of subjects is necessarily taken into account. The school may also request separate written consent to study subjects in the curriculum.

IS IT REALLY THAT PARENTS ARE SUMMONED TO THE PROSECUTION OFFICE?

Yes, but only those who have previously applied there themselves are called. There is nothing wrong with that.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO WRITE THERE?

Can. The Prosecutor General's Office together with Rospotrebnadzor will check the voluntary nature of the study of the Tatar language in Tatarstan in October this year as part of Vladimir Putin's order. The check must be completed in Russia by November 30.

Yes, there are already ideas for some schools - this is when the prosecutor's office finds violations and asks to correct them. So, in social networks, such an idea is actively spreading from the prosecutor's office of the Vakhitovsky district of Kazan to the director of some district school in Kazan (number erased). It says that an inspection of the implementation of the legislation was carried out and violations were revealed. "Teaching and learning the state languages ​​of the republics of the Russian Federation should not be carried out to the detriment of teaching and learning the state language of Russia," the document reads.

It also says that at school they were allowed to "choose" only one native language - Tatar, and this is a restriction of the law.

"Teaching the discipline "Tatar language" or "Tatar literature" in accordance with the norms of the Federal State Educational Standard (Federal State Educational Standard), the federal basic plan and exemplary curricula developed by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, can only be carried out within the subject area "Mother tongue" and exclusively with consent of the parents (legal representatives) of students," the prosecutor's office said.