President Putin's recent statement addressed to the heads of the regions that it is unacceptable to force people to learn a language that is not their native language raised a reasonable question among parents of schoolchildren in national republics - did the president want to say that studying the languages of titular peoples cannot be mandatory?.. The other day, the Prosecutor's Office of Bashkortostan, “in connection with appeals from citizens,” clarified that “teaching native languages, including the Bashkir language, contrary to the consent of the students’ parents, is not allowed.” "Evening Kazan" asked the Tatarstan Prosecutor's Office to provide a similar clarification on this issue.
IT'S NOT ABOUT US, IT'S ABOUT THEM
Let us recall that on July 20, the President of Russia at an off-site meeting of the Council for interethnic relations in Yoshkar-Ola stated: “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. Studying these languages is a right guaranteed by the Constitution, a voluntary right. Forcing a person to learn a language that is not his native language is just as unacceptable as reducing the level and time of teaching Russian. I point this out Special attention heads of regions Russian Federation».
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 within school curriculum all the children are studying the Bashkir language, 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 “once again analyzed” the issue of language learning and decided to make changes to the “basic educational plans for the eighth and ninth grades,” where Bashkir language lessons 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 study their native language from among the languages of the peoples of Russia.”
“Thus, the law establishes the right, not the obligation, to study native languages and state languages 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 prosecutor’s clarification says.
As is known, in Tatarstan there are also many parents of schoolchildren who are dissatisfied with the fact that children, regardless of nationality, mandatory study Tatar language in equal quantities with Russian. And even Russian children in Tatarstan study Russian as a “non-native” language according to an abbreviated curriculum in national schools. Therefore, “Evening Kazan” turned 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 they asked to send an official request.
“Understand, the question is very sensitive. Here you can even lead to extremist statements...” - the supervisory authority explained the seriousness of the “language” issue.
We have sent a request to the prosecutor's office and are waiting for a response.
BETWEEN THE MOSCOW KREMLIN AND KAZAN
Meanwhile, “Evening Kazan” asked independent experts to speculate on how Tatarstan differs from Bashkiria in the situation caused by Putin’s statement, and what position our prosecutor’s office will ultimately take.
Prosecutor's office of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Chechnya or Ryazan region is a single federal body. She has uniform approaches and standards. The Bashkirs cannot say one thing, and the Tatars another, says lawyer Marat Kamalov, an expert at the Public Chamber of the Republic of Tatarstan. - But it happens that the prosecutor’s office is mistaken. 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 talks about two state languages - Tatar and Russian. Another thing is that the methods of teaching Tatar in schools are extremely poor, the textbooks are primitive. If not for this, the children could learn Tatar with only two lessons a week.
According to the academician's forecasts Russian Academy political science Vladimir Belyaev, the Tatarstan Prosecutor’s Office will simply avoid the “language” issue:
- She will fidget between the Moscow Kremlin and the Kazan Kremlin 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, as now, I see one of her solutions - to teach children only conversational Tatar and not for five hours a week, as now, but for two.
Political scientist and historian Rais Suleymanov believes that although Putin’s statement was undoubtedly addressed to Tatarstan, it is not worth measuring Bashkortostan and Tatarstan with the same yardstick.
Tatarstan has a law “On the state languages of the Republic of Tatarstan” ( has been in operation since 1992. - "VC"), and Bashkortostan has its own language law. But the Tatarstan language speaks of the compulsory study of two state languages - Tatar and Russian - in equal amounts, while the Bashkortostan language does not stipulate compulsory study; accordingly, local legislation does not contradict the federal one in this matter. Because of this, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Belarus speaks about the right to study Bashkir, and not about the obligation, explains Suleymanov. - Moreover, the prosecutor's office of the republic at one time made warnings to the head of Bashkortostan about the universal study of Bashkir in schools, without taking into account the opinions of parents. It must be said that this is a rare case in prosecutorial practice. And now in Bashkiria, it seems, everything is moving towards the fact that their native language will be studied there on a voluntary basis. I assume that the Tatarstan Prosecutor’s Office will not follow the path of its colleagues and will refer to the republican law on state languages.
Head of the community “Russian language in schools of national republics” and one of the participants in the protest parent movement against compulsory study Tatar Ekaterina Belyaeva agrees with Suleymanov - The Tatarstan Prosecutor's Office will appeal to the republican law on state languages:
- Except Putin, no one will save us from compulsory Tatar. Several years ago, we, more than 300 parents, applied to the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia, but received a reply. Perhaps now that the agreement between Russia and Tatarstan has come to an end, the situation will change in our favor. But I would like the Russian President to come to Tatarstan and explain to everyone what he meant.
They believe in the power of Putin’s word, but do not count on a positive response from the prosecutor and 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 justify whether we understood his words correctly. But for some reason, Putin says one thing, and officials say another, as if we live in two realities,” committee chairman 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 compulsory study of the state languages of the republics. If such a federal standard is approved, then we will be completely surrounded by red flags. Therefore, we recently sent appeals to the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, the State Duma and the 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 meant.
Photo from the VK archive
In Tatarstan, “coercion” in Tatar language was exchanged for personal safety?
Today's meeting of the State Council of Tatarstan was announced the day before in the local media as historic: the parliament was supposed 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 as the first item on the agenda. But, contrary to expectations, the discussion took place in an unusually casual manner - quickly and without debate. The issue was discussed for less than 15 minutes, after which we 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 a five-minute report that was dry in style but devastating in content. “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 schools of the republic has been recorded. The standards were observed in only 24 schools. There was also a violation of the rights and freedoms to voluntarily study the Tatar language with the imposition of final tests that affect both the transfer to the 10th grade and the average score of the certificate. The interference of republican and municipal bodies in the autonomy of educational institutions has been noted. The combination of these violations not only violated educational standards, but also had a negative impact on ensuring freedom of movement and choice of place of residence for citizens within the Russian Federation.”
In total, according to Nafikov, during an inspection of all 1,412 schools in the republic, the prosecutor’s office and Rosobrnadzor recorded 3,856 violations. All almost four thousand cases concerned what the President of Russia had previously warned about - the deprivation of Russian-speaking citizens of Russia of their constitutional rights to freedom of choice of Russian as their native language and the imposition of the Tatar language on them as a compulsory language. As a result, a high decline in the volume of studying the Russian language, the state language of the Russian Federation, was revealed in Tatarstan.
Ildus Nafikov reported that since the beginning of the inspection ( mid-October - EADaily) the prosecutor's office received 1,716 complaints regarding the facts of “obligation” in schools to the detriment of Russian. “They are all tested and approved. The voluntary nature of learning the native language is ensured where the curriculum provides for its teaching.” The prosecutor thanked the teachers who, during the inspection, promptly signaled to the prosecutor's office and Rosobrnadzor about language imbalances in the educational process, about the forceful pressure on teachers, students and parents when Moscow “took up the language.” “In difficult conditions, you reacted in a stately manner, wisely and correctly. We prevented the incitement of hatred and ensured the continuity of the education process.”
Nafikov, outlining the situation with the Russian language in Tatarstan, placed the main emphasis on the word “discord” - a synonym for the concept of “extremism” ( Art. 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - approx. EADaily). “I must warn “hot heads” against illegal actions and statements of an extremist nature. They will be harshly and decisively suppressed, no matter from which side they come. The prosecutor’s office is against inciting passions and conflict situations.”
IN in social networks have already noted the striking similarity of the intonation with which Nafikov promised punishment for “linguistic extremists” with the intonation Vladimir Putin, when in 1999 he predicted terrorists would die in a latrine. From this, public observers concluded: Nafikov spoke in parliament not for himself, but for the President of Russia. Which is logical - according to the Russian Constitution, the prosecutor of Tatarstan is accountable to the Moscow Kremlin, and not to the Kazan Kremlin. Yes, and Nafikov was appointed prosecutor in 2013 by Vladimir Putin, not Rustam Minnikhanov.
From the dry tone of the prosecutor in the republic they made correct conclusion: Moscow has taken 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 was mournfully silent. Although usually the ex-president of Tatarstan, when it comes to the attributes of “Tatar sovereignty,” does not skimp on emotions. From this, observers concluded that Shaimiev himself, most likely, decided not to get into trouble 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 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 assessed Shaimiev’s silence correctly.
Another “veteran”, the Speaker of the State Council, correctly heard Nafikov’s warning to Moscow Farit Mukhametshin. He addressed deputies with a warning “not to politicize the problem.” Politicization is another keyword“language” meeting of the State Council, a kind of bogeyman. Although the long-term imposition of the Tatar language on schoolchildren of multinational Tatarstan cannot be called anything other than nationalism, and can only be explained by the nationalistic whims of the leadership. The Tatar language, to the detriment of Russian, is a symbol of Tatarstan as a “sovereign state”. Otherwise, the “fathers of sovereignty” from the beginning of the nineties nurtured “sovereignty” with only one goal - to ensure themselves the status of lifelong masters of Tatarstan, along with all that it entails - legal immunity and the opportunity 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 State Council deputies have long been aware of the nuances “on the language issue.” Most likely, this is precisely why the people’s representatives chose 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, speaker Mukhametshin could 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 deputies received many applications from “concerned 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 that include the Tatar language in them for 2 hours. A set of measures is needed, including changes to work programs in the Tatar language, updating Tatar literature, methodological documents, advanced training and retraining of personnel.”
Let us note that since 2012, the school of each subject of the Russian Federation, together with the parents of students, selects a training plan from several proposed by the federal state educational standard and the federal law “On Education”. In the case of Tatarstan (as with any national region), school directors and parents have the right to choose both the notorious “regional component” and a federal plan - without hours for the national language, but with an emphasis on Russian, literature and one European language. However, Farit Mukhametshin, as before, kept silent about such nuances, and now he has not reported about it. As well as the fact that the mentioned “volume of 2 hours” becomes voluntary.
The capitulation of ethnocracy was funny to watch from the outside. Before Ildus Nafikov’s report to the State Council, the republic was still trying to create the illusion of a protest wave with the help of administrative resources. Previously, in the image of a man-made defense 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 Tatar to the detriment of Russian. The director of a specialized lyceum in Kazan became the vanguard 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 - approx. EADaily ), “icon” of liberal-oriented parents of Kazan schoolchildren. The portal Idel.Realii, associated with Radio Liberty, eagerly quoted Shmakov, who stood up for the “defense of cultural diversity”, which was transformed in the minds of the teacher-director into the defense of language “coercion”: “We believe that children cannot be divided into Tatars and Russians, that the Tatars go to their Tatar language, and the Russians go to play football.” According to Shmakov, all schoolchildren should learn Tatar, and this will be the case at his school SOLNTSE.
Shmakov compared the prosecutor's inspections to walking through delicate flowers in soldier's boots. The prosecutor's checks outraged the teacher, who, in his desire to punish the martinet inspectors, agreed to the point of absurdity: “They photographed children's underwear, personal items...”. But Shmakov’s over-emotional and confusing video interview only had an impact on people who are completely unaware of the realities of Tatarstan. And the way the vertical of the republic, listening to Nafikov, took up the veil, only confirms the well-known expression “your shirt is closer to your body”: frightened ethnocrats, in order to maintain personal safety, quickly “surrendered” their native Tatar language, which only yesterday they insisted on compulsory learning or not with foam at the mouth.
Let us note that in exactly the same way - for the sake of “preserving everything acquired by back-breaking labor” (over 27 years of ethnocracy) the notorious agreement on the division of powers between federal center and the republic, at the beginning of this year a whole cohort of previously “untouchable” national activists went to trial. For the sake of peace and well-being, the long-lived high offices of Kazan were ready to show “multi-vectorism”, turning from defenders of the “state of Tatarstan” into “patriots of Russia.” Against this background, in the republic, in competent circles, opinions are increasingly heard that Rustam Minnikhanov will not serve out his term as president 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 Tatarstan’s status as a “super-prosperous” region and the absence of conflicts previously saved the resignation of President Rustam Minnikhanov. The illusion of “super prosperity” burst at the beginning of 2017 along with the collapse of the Tatfondbank “empire”. And Kazan’s desire to follow the old ethnocratic course at all costs led to Vladimir Putin’s speech in Yoshkar-Ola and comprehensive “language” checks in schools in the region. According to the results of these checks, resignation is the simplest punishment that can await the highest officials of the republic.
After claims from the prosecutor's office, Tatarstan schools began to abandon the compulsory study of the Tatar language. According to the new curriculum, which will be introduced from the second quarter, parents will be able to choose for themselves which language their children will study as their “native” - Russian or Tatar. The Committee of Russian-Speaking Parents of Tatarstan expresses concern that the republic’s schools will try to maintain 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 Sovetsky district of Kazan has published a new curriculum for 2017/18 academic year, which provides for voluntary learning of the Tatar language. According to the document, the subject “native language and literature” is included in the part “formed by 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 participants in the educational process,” the document says. The previous curriculum provided for the compulsory study of the subjects “Tatar language”, “Tatar literature” and “ literary reading in Tatar language" (in primary school). In total, up to six hours a week were allocated to these subjects.
The curriculum was changed at the request of the prosecutor’s office, “the study of languages has been brought fully into compliance with the law,” Lyceum Director Artem Sakhnov explained to Kommersant-Kazan. He clarified that in the coming weeks, parents should submit applications about which language their children will study as their native language. 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 in effect from the second academic quarter (starting in November of this year).
Other schools in Tatarstan are also changing their curriculum. 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 compulsory 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 on social networks, in schools in the Vysokogorsk region 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 subscribed to their native language - Russian,” the director allegedly said that “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 history 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, “students are imposed a 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 with studying the Tatar language and Tatar literature and choosing a curriculum for schools with Russian as the language of instruction, which does not involve studying the native language.
Let us remind you that supervisory authorities are checking schools in Tatarstan for the voluntary study of the native and state languages of the republics in connection with the instructions 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 his native language 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 law on languages, Tatar and Russian have been taught compulsorily in equal amounts since the 1990s.
As Kommersant-Kazan reported on October 17, the management of Tatarstan schools began to receive representations from district prosecutors’ offices. They demanded that the Tatar language be excluded from the compulsory school curriculum, noting that in schools in Tatarstan “children of various nationalities are taught for whom the Tatar language is not their native language, and its study is compulsory, which is contrary to federal legislation.”
The Ministry of Education and Science of Tatarstan, which previously insisted that the Tatar language should be taught compulsorily in the republic to all schoolchildren, does not comment on the prosecutor’s office’s submissions. As stated by Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Republic Larisa Sulima, specialists from the Prosecutor General’s Office and Rosobranadzor will be in Tatarstan until October 27. Departments, according to Vladimir Putin’s instructions, must report to the president on the results of inspections by November 30.
At the same time, the World Congress of Tatars (WCT) spoke out yesterday in defense of the “state Tatar language”. Let us recall that the executive committee of the organization is headed by Deputy of the State Council of Tatarstan Rinat Zakirov, and at the last congress of the CGT, a national council of the congress was formed - Milli Shura, the leader of which was elected Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic Vasil Shaikhraziev. The CGT stated that schools in Tatarstan “are under serious pressure due to the long-term practice of teaching the Tatar language in schools of the republic as a compulsory subject, in accordance with 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 CGT declares a “strong protest against absolutely illegal attacks on the state status of the Tatar language in the republic” and “attempts to oust it from the sphere of education” in the region. The mufti of the republic, Kamil Samigullin, also distributed his appeal regarding 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 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 group “Tatar-speaking parents” on the social network VKontakte. On this moment About 1.5 thousand signatures were collected. At the end of September, 60 writers from Tatarstan sent a letter to the President of the Russian Federation, in which they advocated the compulsory study of the Tatar language in schools of the republic. And 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 Peoples of the Volga Region and the Urals to protect the national rights of the peoples of the Russian Federation.
The State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan unanimously adopted a draft resolution on teaching the Tatar language in schools of the republic. As the Chairman of the State Council noted at a meeting of the Parliament of the Republic of Tajikistan Farid Mukhametshin, the government of the republic, together with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, did a lot of work - “a common understanding was found with colleagues from the federal ministry.”
“The main result of the consultations was that the Tatar language as the state language of the Republic of Tatarstan will be studied as part of the curriculum in schools. On November 28, in response to an appeal from the President of the Republic, Minnikhanov Rustam Nurgalievich, a letter was received from the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Olga Yuryevna Vasilyeva, who sent us sample curricula providing for the study of the state languages of the republics of the Russian Federation, where the state language of the republics of the Russian Federation is legally established.
The Ministry of Education and Science has a lot of work to do to ensure that schools adopt curricula that include the state Tatar language in them for two hours. It is necessary to implement a set of measures, including making changes to work programs in the Tatar language, updating educational literature, methodological documents, advanced training and retraining of personnel.
Further delay and postponement of this issue, as well as discussions in society, create tension in relationships, as I have already said, both in the teaching environment, and in the parental environment, in the family, even among children.
Therefore, dear colleagues, at the proposal of the members of the Presidium of the State Council, I make a proposal: do not open the debate, proceed to consideration of the draft resolution on this issue, and protocol to the State Council Committee on Education, Culture, Science and national issues Deputy Valeev will need to take control of all this work, and it is possible that from time to time we will return to consider the progress of this work at committee meetings.
Let me voice the draft resolution, just two points: “Having heard the information from the Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan Mukhametshin, the prosecutor of the Republic of Tatarstan Nafikov on the teaching and learning of the state languages of the Republic of Tatarstan, the native languages of the peoples living in the Republic of Tatarstan, the State Council decides: to take into account the information of Mukhametshin and Nafikov and propose to the Ministry of Education and science of the Republic of Tatarstan, Engel Navapovich Fattakhov to take measures to organize the educational process in state and municipal educational institutions RT in accordance with the model curricula presented by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation on November 28, 2017.” This short decision [was made] after we postponed this issue for two sessions,” Mukhametshin said.
The draft resolution was adopted unanimously - 71 deputies voted in favor.
“Thank you very much, I think this resolution was adopted and supported by you with great understanding. The same understanding of both the importance and complexity of this issue should now be put into action in the preparation of new documents, which will be jointly prepared by the Ministry of Education and the government of the republic,” added the Chairman of the State Council.
Video: press service of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan
In Tatarstan (Russia), they continue to discuss the possibility of abolishing the compulsory study of the Tatar language in school. Some are “for”, some are “against”, there are a lot of arguments on both sides. Idel.Realities decided to collect answers from various Russian ministries and departments and tried to answer the most important questions of parents from the position of the authorities.
“Are there many people in Tatarstan who don’t want their children to learn Tatar?”
An organization created in April 2017, the Committee of Russian-Speaking Parents of Tatarstan, stated that as of October 10, at least 2,805 applications for refusal to study the Tatra language had been submitted in Tatarstan. If you believe the map they provided, basically, they are ready to give up learning the language in cities in the east, in Kazan and areas near Kazan.
“Do 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 poor level teaching the language, the lack of need to study it and the desire to improve the level of studying Russian, since this language is necessary for admission to universities.
“I heard that somewhere they have already canceled the study of Tatar”
News about this, indeed, constantly appears. One of the first stories is connected with a Naberezhnye Chelny journalist Alsou Gazizova. At the beginning of September 2017, she wrote a statement. The teacher allowed her son Mark not to attend Tatar lessons. Instead, the boy was offered something to do during this time, for example, drawing. A few days later, Gazizova was called to the school principal, where they explained that a mistake had occurred 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 the student can contact their school with such a statement.
“My child’s and I’s native language is Russian. I want him to learn it as an additional language.”
The Department of State Policy in the Sphere of General Education of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia stated that students can choose to study Russian as their native language and study it as part of the subject “Native Language and Native Literature.” Along with Russian, in this category you can study the state languages of the republics and the native language of the languages of the peoples of Russia. There is only one limitation - the school must provide an opportunity to study this language.
“At our school they force you to sign an application for additional study of the Tatar language. Is this legal?”
“By the way, teachers say that if my child does not learn Tatar, he will not be able to pass the certification in this subject and will not be able to graduate from school. Is this true?”
According to the orders of the Russian Ministry of Education, the state final certification includes mandatory exams only in the Russian language and mathematics. Exams for others academic subjects, including in their native language from among the languages of the peoples of Russia, students take them on a voluntary basis of their choice. If a child is forced to take such an exam, this is a violation of Russian legislation on education. This is the answer from the Department of State Policy in the Sphere of General Education of the Ministry of Education of Russia.
"If I'm not mistaken, parents have the right to choose the curriculum for their child?"
Parents or legal guardians may participate in the discussion and approval of educational plans. Their opinion regarding the study of subjects is necessarily taken into account. The school may also request separate written consent to study curriculum subjects.
“Is it true that parents are summoned to the prosecutor’s office?”
Yes, but they only call those who have previously applied there themselves. There's nothing wrong with that.
“Was it possible to write there too?”
Can. The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia together with Rospotrebnadzor will check the voluntary nature of learning the Tatar language in Tatarstan in October 2017 as part of Vladimir Putin’s instructions. The verification must be completed in Russia before November 30.
Yes, there are already reports for some schools - this is when the prosecutor’s office finds violations and asks them to correct them. Thus, this idea is actively spreading on social networks from the prosecutor’s office of the Vakhitovsky district of Kazan to the director of some district school in Kazan (the number has been erased). It says that the implementation of the legislation was checked and violations were identified. “The teaching and study of the state languages of the republics of Russia should not be carried out to the detriment of the teaching and study of the state language of Russia,” the document says.
It also says that at school they were allowed to “choose” only one native language – Tatar, and this is a limitation 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 model curricula developed by the Ministry of Education of Russia can only be carried out within the framework of subject area“Native language” and exclusively with the consent of the students’ parents (legal representatives),” the prosecutor’s office responded.
"I heard another opinion: in Tatarstan– two state languages, Tatar schoolchildren must learn both"
Yes, the Ministry of Education of Tatarstan stated in September that Tatar, along with Russian, was established as the state language of Tatarstan by the Constitution of the republic, which means its study is provided for.
"By Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of November 16, 2004 No. 16-P, the study of Russian and Tatar languages in general educational institutions as state languages in the Republic of Tatarstan was recognized as not contradicting the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Accordingly, the Tatar language as a compulsory subject is subject to study in all general educational institutions Republic of Tatarstan. Thus, calls (and sample statements) disseminated on social networks to refuse to study the Tatar language contradict current legislation and mislead parents of students,” reports the website of the Ministry of Education of Tatarstan.
Let us note that this clarification of the ministry is enshrined in home page site.
"So they're not going to change anything?"
At the very end of this explanation it is said that the Prime Minister of Tatarstan Alexey Pesoshin a decision was made to bring, from January 1, 2018, the volume of studying the Russian language to the volume recommended by the Ministry of Education of Russia. “Other measures to improve language policy in the Republic of Tatarstan are also being developed,” the website says.
"What's the result? My child may not learn the Tatar language?"
So far there is no final and official statement from the ministries and the authorities of Tatarstan and Russia in general. Hence the doubts and the eternal dispute on the Internet. At the end of the inspection by the prosecutor's office, it may become clear in which direction Tatarstan schools will move.