Ukraine to further guarantee free development of minority languages
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin declares that Ukraine intends to guarantee the free development of minority languages in the country after the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law on education.
"Ukraine will continue to do everything for the development of the Ukrainian [language] and guarantee the free development of the languages of national minorities: it is our duty," Klimkin wrote on Twitter on Monday.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science will provide detailed information on the adopted law on education and its implementation, he said. "We are working on ways of implementation rather than emotional interpretation," the minister wrote.
At the same time, the foreign minister pointed out to challenges related to the quality of teaching the Ukrainian language in places of compact residence of the Hungarian national minority in Ukraine. "There are problems of integration: 75% of the graduates of the Berehove district [in Transcarpathia] did not pass the external independent assessment test in the Ukrainian language. We must improve the situation without losing the quality of education in Hungarian," he added.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada on September 5 adopted the law on education, which is designed to reform education in Ukraine. The law, among other things, determines that the language of the educational process in educational institutions is the national language, i.e. Ukrainian.
On September 7, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter Szijjarto, stated that Ukraine had "stabbed a knife in the back" with its new education policy in the neighboring state. On September 10, the press secretary of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tamaz Menzer, said that in all forums of the UN, OSCE and the European Union, Budapest will raise the issue of amending the language clause of the Ukrainian education law. At the same time, it was instructed Hungarian diplomats not to support important decisions for Ukraine in international organizations.
The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Hungary and Romania have criticized of the language-related provisions of the new Ukrainian law on education, passed by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on September 5.
"Ukraine has stabbed Hungary in the back by amending its education act, which strongly violates the rights of the Hungarian minority… It is shameful that a country that is striving to develop an increasingly close relationship with the European Union has made a decision that is in complete opposition to European values. It is unacceptable that Ukraine has stripped Hungarians of their right to study in their native language in schools and universities, and have only left them an opportunity to do so in nursery schools and primary schools," the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its statement.
Szijjarto summoned Ukraine's ambassador to Hungary in Budapest about the law on education. In addition, Hungarian diplomats were given instructions not support Ukraine in international organizations on issues important for Ukraine.