Concerned citizens protesting irrational language policy

Volunteers of the All-Ukrainian Civic Organization Ne bud baiduzhym! (Don’t Be Indif­ferent!) brought pumpkins to the gate of the Constitutional Court of Uk­raine [by an old Ukrainian tra­di­tion, if a young woman did not want to marry a man, she would give him a pumpkin, thus disgracing him in the eyes of the village com­mu­nity — Ed.] after the CCU re­cog­nized as un­con­stitutional a decision of the Ca­binet of Ministers of Uk­raine whereby schoolteachers had to use Uk­rainian during classes and breaks.

Says Ne bud baiduzhym’s director Oksana Levkovych: “Getting the Cabinet to adopt this resolution last year was easier said than done. This document reflects the schoolchildren’s concern that their mother tongue is being taught formally. We all know that our schoolteachers habitually keep switching from Uk­rai­nian to Russian and teaching the language under such condition is virtually impossible, and so we came up with the initiative that ended in the Cabinet’s Resolution ‘On Changes to the Regulations on the General Educational Establishment’ (I mean the clause concerning the language to be used by the teaching staff during working hours).”

In response, 52 members of parliament signed a no confidence statement and turned to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, claiming this Cabinet resolution restricts the rights of schoolteachers, students, and their parents.

“We’re convinced that the CCU should have dismissed this complaint; there was sufficient ground to do just that. Our civic organization regards this CCU ruling as ungrounded and biased,” says NBB’s lawyer Yurii Fartushny.

COMMENTS

Halyna TELNIUK, singer:

“It is amazing to see politicians oppose the adequate way in which our children could master Ukrainian. At the school where my son studies, all teachers speak Russian during recesses as a matter of course. There is, however, a big difference between a bazaar vendor selling socks and teaching history in school. We keep hearing that there are more and more Ukrainian songs, books, and commercials, still, we see no positive trends. We’re constantly in a state of struggle that has turned into a war. We lost it 18 years ago when we let east and south [of Uk­raine] have their way. We have wasted time; these reforms should’ve been carried out earlier, then we’d now have a society where people would be speaking literary Ukrainian. We have lost several generations with our politicians curtsying before each other debating whether or not we needed Ukrainian. My sister and I are Kyivans and we have always been ostracized for speaking Ukrainian, starting at seven when boys and girls in the yard ridiculed and insulted us for using the language.”

Lesia VORONINA, writer:

“The way those MPs and the judges reacted to an attempt to institute Ukrainian in school during classes and breaks is totally absurd. When we hear about the alleged discrimination against the Russian language and breaches of the rights of Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizens, we know that all this is blatant cynical falsehood. If our education continues to be based on this constant lingual dualism (something like language schizophrenia), our children will end up having no idea about literary Ukrainian and Uk­rai­nian literature, for everything Uk­rai­nian will be treated as inferior and unnecessary, while the Russian language and literature will be predominant. I have my doubts about the intellectual level of all those who make and then cancel decisions on the status of Ukrainian. I think that these people have never read books written by talented Ukrainian authors. Perhaps I’m being idealistic, but I am convinced that a child who reads good books cannot grow up as a mean individual. We all know the horrible condition of book publishing in Ukraine, especially children’s books and periodicals. We have politicians who don’t know why we need literature. If these people determine the destiny of the Ukrainian language and literature in general, the prospects are bleak.”

P.S.: President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine adopted the Concept of the National Language Policy that, among other things, envisages the development of a network of preschool educational establishments, general educational schools, and institutions of higher learning with instruction in Ukrainian, along with upgrading schooling and procedural support; measures aimed at expanding the usage of Ukrainian in the media and in the spheres of culture, education, and science.