A non-Canadian problem

On Nov. 9 we marked the Day of Ukrainian Literature and Language. That same day the 7 th International Ukrainian Language Competition was launched in Chernihiv. The goal of the competition is to enhance the popularity of the Ukrainian language and encourage children to study it. This tradition was launched in Ukraine by the Ukrainian Canadian Petro Jacyk, and until this year the competition was held under the auspices of this philanthropist. This year the Ukrainian Canadian’s initiative was handed over to Ukraine.

DIASPORA CANNOT SAVE THE UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE

For six years the international Ukrainian language competition has been organized by its founder, the Toronto-based Petro Jacyk Educational Foundation. This year the foundation took a different stand. Its directors said, “We started the competition, now you keep it going. If Ukraine needs it, the competition will live; if not, it will die.”

This brings to an end the competition’s Canadian financing. In previous years 25 percent of the competition’s budget was supplied by the Jacyk Foundation. All money transfers were made through the foundation. Because large sums were involved, the foundation started having problems with the Canadian government, and an audit was ordered. (It is no secret that the world is worried about terrorism and its concealed sources of financing). In addition, the philanthropist’s daughter Nadia said she is against using her father’s name, Petro Jacyk, in the competition’s title.

This year’s competition, now a tradition, faced the threat of being called off. But the pharmaceutical firm Darnytsia came to the organizers’ rescue and financed all expenses. The language competition also received support from Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Deputy Minister Olha Shokalo-Bench said that this year the state allocated 20 million hryvnias to develop the Ukrainian language, as a rule, by purchasing works of literature, textbooks, manuals, and encyclopedias. There are plans to provide an equal amount next year. This time the culture and tourism ministry undertook to finance the creative part of the competition, a competition for amateur performers and artistic readings.

NOT ENOUGH OF OUR OWN PHILANTHROPISTS

Mykhailo Slaboshpytsky, the executive director of the League of Ukrainian Philanthropists and one of the competition’s organizers, said that every year he has contacted the president, prime minister, and speaker, suggesting that they support the competition financially. In particular, he proposed that Ukraine’s parliamentarians institute their own prize for the winners. He said that he has written to all MPs, asking them to create a prize for schoolchildren and name it after their parents or after themselves. Three years ago several parliamentarians supported this initiative. However, our MPs are far removed from the problems afflicting the Ukrainian language. This year only Oleksandr Moroz responded to the proposal. A prize named after the parliamentary speaker will be awarded to several of the best students and pupils from the higher grades. Moroz’s donation amounts to 9,000 hryvnias.

It is a crying shame that wealthy Ukrainians are ignoring these initiatives. Given the Ukrainian government’s indifferent attitude to the Ukrainian language, one can understand the indignation felt by Petro Jacyk’s daughter. Why does Stanley Petersen of Toronto annually donate $55,000 to the competition and $120,000 to the 6th Jacyk competition, while our millionaires are unwilling to make any investments in the cultural domain?

BIGGEST PRIZE: 7,000 HRYVNIAS

The language competition will continue until May 2007, and winners will be feted on the stage of the Ivan Franko National Drama Theater. The competition involves not only schoolchildren from the third to the eleventh grades, but also college and university students whose rectors want to test their knowledge of their native language. Besides Ukraine, the competition will be held in 10 CIS countries as well as the US, Canada, Poland, and Australia.

Taking part in the international Ukrainian language competition is a matter of prestige and winning a prize is profitable. The largest award is 7,000 hryvnias. It will be conferred on 11th graders who place first on the national level. Winners from the 10th grade will each receive 5,000 hryvnias, and third-graders, 2,000. Monetary prizes will be conferred on all winners (placing first, second, and third in every class) of city, raion, and oblast competitions (the smallest prize for a third-grader is 100 hryvnias).

It is expected that between 1,500 and 2,000 children all over Ukraine will receive prizes. This money is tax-exempt, one of the significant achievements of the League of Ukrainian Philanthropists. The competition’s budget tops 640,000 hryvnias. Special awards are slated for schoolteachers whose pupils are competition winners. The sums are still not determined, but information is available about prizes for instructors of higher educational institutions whose students become winners. According to Valerii Bitaiev, deputy rector of the State Academy for Culture and Arts Managerial Personnel, teachers of winning students will be awarded 3,000 hryvnias each and the academy’s gold medal.

Some schoolteachers question whether such large sums will spoil children and young people. At one time the Ukrainian Canadian philanthropist Petro Jacyk answered this very question: “Competitions and competitions are often organized in Ukraine. They are won by the strongest and the smartest. For some reason all they receive in return are glossy sheets of cardboard.”

It is time we got used to the idea that every victory, every prize must have its monetary equivalent. It is important for children not to have to ask their parents for money, but to be able to earn it. They must also become convinced that it is useful to study not only English and computers but also one’s native language.