Language issue to deepen split in society, Russify Ukrainian education, says Ne Bud Baiduzhym! Organization

Kyiv, January 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The concept for language education proposed by the Ukrainian Education and Science, Youth and Sports Ministry will leads Ukrainian education to Russification, the Ukrainian public organization "Ne Bud Baiduzhym!" ("Don't Be Indifferent!") has said.

"This concept is a new method of Russification of Ukraine. I guess this concept will be adopted quickly, so that the public will not be able to oppose it. This is a new, invisible method of Russification of Ukraine," a representative of the organization Olena Podobed-Frankivska said during a press conference hosted by the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency.

According to her, when the Education Ministry presented this concept at a public discussion, some regulations were violated - in particular, the term set for a public discussion.

"A public discussion of this project should have been held for not less than a month," she noted.

In turn, sociolinguist, Dr. Larysa Masenko said: "Why did you decide that the concept is aimed exactly at this [Russification]? ... There are no clear regulations on a specified language. These norms can be applied to both the Ukrainian and Russian languages. There is no definition on the main language of education in Ukraine."

At the same time, Masenko criticized the concept.

"This concept will only deepen the split in the society, that's why it is very dangerous, and in fact it practically returns us to the Soviet Union."

In addition, senior researcher at the Institute of the Ukrainian Language of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Oksana Danylevska said that the key principle of the proposed idea was a political quick fix.

"I should say that this is a short-term concept for the current political situation, unfortunately, it does not take care about actual education," she added.

According to Podobed-Frankivska, on January 20 activists of the organization will bring a new doorplate reading "Education Ministry of Russia. Foreign Representative Office" to the Education Ministry. She noted: "In such a way, we want to rename the ministry to match its deeds."