| Popis: |
In September 2017 Ukraine adopted a new Education Act. However, a paragraph on ‘language of instruction’ has spurred dissatisfaction among ethno-cultural groups (Hungarians, Russians, Romanians, Moldavians) and state leaders in their ‘external homelands’. Ever since the Soviet era, there had been minority-oriented schools in Ukraine where all or most subjects were taught in locality-specific minority languages. The new law, however, limited the amount of instruction allowed in these languages, and favoured the state language, Ukrainian. Drawing on focus groups with parents and teachers, as well as interviews with local experts, this chapter examines how the language paragraph has been received in two very different regions: Chernivtsi, which borders on EU member Romania and has a large Romanian minority; and Kharkiv, bordering on Russia and with a significant Russian/Russian-speaking population. The languages of these groups are treated differently in the law ‘On education’, where instruction in the languages of the EU, like Romanian, is allowed to a greater extent than non-EU languages, like Russian, for which there are no provisions. Russians/Russian-speakers as well as Romanians see the language provision of the Education Act as part of the Ukrainian state’s ongoing nationalizing efforts, but Russians and Russian-speakers in Kharkiv seem to accept it more than do Romanians in Chernivtsi, where some have been defending their rights as an ethno-cultural minority. |
