Radio Azatlyk asked representatives of the national republics of Russia to comment on the words of President Putin on how Russian and native languages ​​should be taught in the country's schools. "Idel.Realii" offers a short translation of the material published in the Tatar language.

Minister of Education and Science of Tatarstan Engel Fattakhov: “In Tatarstan, the Tatar language is the state language for everyone. It is written in black and white in our Constitution. We operate within the law. Consensus reached. Educational programs comply with federal standards. There are no complaints from the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia.”

Vice President of the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan Rafael Khakimov: “Tatarstan has its own constitution and law on state languages. Based on these laws, both state languages ​​are taught in the same volume. The Supreme Court of Russia ruled in this regard and recognized that it is absolutely legal. In order to exclude the teaching of the Tatar language, it will be necessary to change the Constitution. We hope it doesn't come to that."

Professor, Faculty of History, Bashkir State University Marat Kulsharipov: “These words of Putin are the next step in the creation of the Russian nation. The saddest thing is that high-ranking officials succumb to this. Now in Bashkortostan, the Bashkir language is not taught as a state language. Prosecutorial checks were even carried out - allegedly teaching the Bashkir language as the state language is contrary to the law. It all comes down from above! They came up with the thesis of a single Russian nation and put it into practice.

Russia is following the path of the former Yugoslavia. There is a policy against the preservation of the language, history, traditions of non-Russian peoples. It's done on the sly."

Member of the Parliament (Il Tumen) of Yakutia, chairman of the public center Sakha Ivan Shamaev: “These words of Putin refer primarily to Tatarstan. It seems that only in this republic the teaching of the national language remains. If Tatarstan can adequately respond to this pressure, we will give a standing ovation. It would seem that in the national republics the state languages ​​should be taught on a mandatory basis, but de facto this has long been absent in almost all republics.

I think Putin's words that national languages ​​should be taught on a voluntary basis are what he really wants. The national republics are forced to bear the burden of preserving their own languages.

In Komi, the Komi language is not taught, in Buryatia the same way - these languages ​​are threatened with extinction. But in Tatarstan the situation is different. He set an example for many. I hope the republic will defend its national rights.”

Recall that on July 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the teaching of Russian and national languages ​​in the country.

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 in schools of the national republics of the Russian Federation. I draw the special attention of the heads of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to this,” Putin said at a meeting of the Council for Interethnic Relations, which took place in Yoshkar-Ola.

To study these languages ​​is a right guaranteed by the Constitution, a voluntary right, - he noted.

80 responses to “ Are Putin's words a black mark on national languages?”

Where are the minister and prosecutor?

Before the long-awaited session, which was supposed to discuss the most pressing issue of recent months, in addition to the main topic, several more intrigues have accumulated. Unexpectedly for everyone, the prosecutor of the Republic of Tatarstan, Ildus Nafikov, went on vacation yesterday, right before the meeting.

The question “Has the Minister of Education already arrived?” became the most popular among journalists this morning. Engel Fattakhov still did not appear on the sidelines of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, which gave rise to suspicions that one of his deputies would not take the rap in front of the parliament? It soon became clear that Fattakhov was already in the hall, he just entered not from the main entrance, but by detours.

There was also the prosecutor of the republic, who specially arrived for the session, but did not utter a word during the entire session. But his counterpart finally broke the vow of silence. For the past few months, Engel Fattakhov has carefully avoided public speaking. Today, he spoke about the state of affairs, speaking for the first time on the topic of the language crisis in Tatarstan.

- Within 10 days, a joint inspection of the Prosecutor General's Office and Rosobrnadzor took place in the schools of the republic. Such an order of the President of Russia was published on August 28, just before the start of the school year. The president's instructions address two issues: the state of learning and teaching the Russian language, and the voluntary study of the native and state languages ​​of the republics of the Russian Federation.

Tatar–almost foreign, though state-owned

There are no problems with teaching the Russian language in the republic, the Minister of Education said. In 2017, according to the results of the Unified State Examination, the results of Tatarstan graduates are higher than in most regions of Russia. The difference with Moscow is only 7 hundredths of a point. We should expect that it will be even better, because as part of the execution of the President's instructions, the volumes of studying the Russian language were brought up to those recommended in exemplary programs.

- Starting from the second quarter of this academic year, parents of students of the republic are given the opportunity to choose their native Russian language for their children to study. Schoolchildren of the republic, whose parents chose the Russian language, and we have 30% of them, will study 2 independent subjects within the school schedule - Russian as a state, Russian as a native, - the minister explained. - The total number of classes in Russian language and literature in the school schedule can reach 11 hours per week or 2 lessons per day. At the same time, there are no exemplary programs and textbooks for Russian as a native language. We compile our own learning materials. These will be a combination of courses in rhetoric, world fiction, culture and an in-depth study of the Russian language and literature.

However, what was expected from the minister was not a report on the successes of the Tatarstan education. Everyone is interested in the question of how the Tatar language will be taught in schools and whether they will be at all.

- Today, consultations with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation continue. For the transitional phase, we proposed the following. Develop curricula options for primary and basic general education, in which it will be possible to choose and study the native language - Russian, Tatar, Chuvash, Mari, Udmurt, Mordovian, etc. in the amount of 2-3 hours. At the same time, the state Tatar language will be studied in the amount of 2 hours by all students. In high school, the study of the Tatar language as the state language is proposed to be organized on a voluntary basis. In the current situation, we believe that this approach could be a compromise solution that would allow us to bring the volumes of studying the Russian language up to those recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, ensure the choice of the native language at the request of parents within the framework of the exemplary area “native language and native literature”, preserve the possibility of studying Tatar language as a state language, to ensure the voluntariness of the study of the state Tatar language at the senior level,” said Fattakhov. - During the next meeting with the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Olga Vasilyeva yesterday, she confirmed her readiness to agree on this compromise solution. We expect to receive the corresponding letter next week. Further, we consider it necessary to organize joint work on introducing changes to federal educational standards with the obligatory participation of representatives of the regions in this work.

- In the 90s, there was a transition to universal teaching of the Tatar language. This required the involvement of personnel, including through the retraining of non-core specialists. In parallel, programs and textbooks were developed. By the beginning of the 90s, there was practically no experience in teaching the Tatar language to a foreign-language audience. There are two main problems in teaching the Tatar language. The first is the insufficient methodological preparation of teachers for working in a foreign-language classroom. We do not fully realize that we are entering a class of children for whom the Tatar language is almost a foreign language, although it is the state language. The second is that programs and textbooks are aimed at studying the structure of the language, and not at communication technologies, the minister summed up.

“Not a single Tatar teacher will be fired during the school year”

The new curriculum entails an increase in the load on Russian language teachers. The total need for them is about 220 people. The same number of teachers of the Tatar language may be laid off. In total, there are about one and a half thousand of them in the republic. The Minister said that even if their teaching load is reduced, the salary will remain the same for two months. The fate of the teachers was clarified by the president of the republic.

- We have prepared a version that takes into account all the norms of federal legislation and the laws of the republic. It has been previously agreed with specialists from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. This document has been submitted. Yesterday our minister met with Olga Yurievna (Olga Vasilyeva, Minister of Education of Russia. - Ed.), there is confirmation. We have decided that no teacher will be fired. We will take all necessary measures for a sufficient number of teachers of the Russian language, for this we have a reserve. And at the same time, not a single Tatar language teacher will be fired during the school year. We already have a roadmap for each school. People should be calm, schools should be calm. There will be no illegal, illegal steps on our part. We are waiting for a new federal standard, where the state language of the republic will be taught two hours a week. I also negotiated with the administration, there is an understanding, I really hope that we should resolve this issue in the near future. We must clearly comply with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tatarstan, laws and regulations issued by the Russian Ministry of Education. This path must be taken. Today I would not like to discuss once again the importance and seriousness of this task. Let's let our colleagues work with the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, and after that we will report to the Parliament on the work done,” suggested Rustam Minnikhanov.

After this statement by the President, Farid Mukhametshin proposed to abandon the debate and postpone the discussion of the burning issue until the next session. The date was promised to be announced later.

"We are, as always, at the forefront"

After the meeting, journalists lined up around the chairman of the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and National Affairs of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan Razil Valeev, who were interested in what to do with schools where meetings had already been held and parents had chosen curricula, whether already selected programs would have to be reviewed, whether the Tatar language would appear language in first grade?

– It all depends on what decision will be made in Moscow, in the Ministry of Education of our republic and the President of the Russian Federation. I think that if the consistency of positions was reflected in the conversation of the ministers, then changes should be made to the Federal State Educational Standard of the Russian Federation, Razil Valeev said.

- Will it spread only to Tatarstan or to all the republics? - the correspondent of "MK-Povolzhye" asked.

- All republics.

– That is, in fact, Tatarstan opens the way for the study of national languages ​​in all republics?

- Yes, you can count it. On October 24, at a meeting in Makhachkala, I spoke about this, and there all the national republics supported Tatarstan's proposals. They also act, not only us. For example, Yakutia is very active in this area, Chuvashia. But we are, as always, at the forefront.

Tatarstan complies with all norms of federal legislation in the preparation of educational programs in schools. This was stated at a briefing by the head of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan, Engel Fattakhov, answering the question of a KazanFirst correspondent whether the republic would change the norms for teaching Russian and Tatar languages.

- We have the Constitution of Tatarstan, there is a law on the norms of education, a law on the state languages ​​- Russian and Tatar. In this regard, we have no violations. All our actions are coordinated with the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. We, the ministry, are only executors. We comply with the law. We have an education program, and we will continue to act within its framework. We are doing a lot in terms of languages, the concept of teaching the Tatar language has been adopted specifically for children who are Russian-speaking, and for Tatar children who are not fluent in the Tatar language, the minister noted.

According to him, the position of the ministry is as follows - every parent will not mind if his child is fluent in Russian, Tatar and English.

Earlier, the minister stated that the words of the President of Russia, spoken at the Council on Interethnic Relations on July 20 in Yoshkar-Ola and dedicated to the priority of studying the Russian language in schools, do not apply to the language policy in Tatarstan.

In his speech in the capital of Mari El, Putin instructed all heads of regions to closely monitor that no one is forced to learn non-native languages.

- I want to remind you, dear friends, that the Russian language for us is the state language, the language of interethnic communication, and it cannot be replaced by anything. He is the natural spiritual frame of our entire multinational country. Everyone should know it... 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 lowering the level of teaching Russian. I draw the special attention of the heads of the regions of the Russian Federation to this- said Vladimir Putin.