Language question in Bashkiria: “This is not Kazakhstan here. The language question in Bashkiria: “This is not Kazakhstan for you. Language and career, they, to be honest...

The prosecutor's office of Bashkortostan, as a result of numerous inspections, recognized the issue of compulsory study of the Bashkir language in schools as a violation. The department recommended that the head of the region, Rustem Khamitov, look into this.

The story of complaints about the compulsory study of the Bashkir language in the republic’s schools began after the parents of Ufa school No. 39 created the so-called “Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Russian-Speaking Schoolchildren,” which united opponents of the imposition of the Bashkir language in the school curriculum.

Many parents of students from other schools in the city also believe that learning the Bashkir language should be purely voluntary, citing the law of the Russian Federation. They demand that schoolchildren have the opportunity to choose whether or not to study a given subject, just as this happens with a number of other school subjects, writes the online publication Ufa1.ru. But in fact, as activists state, school directors are forced to deny parents and children their right to choose, because are under pressure from the Ministry of Education and the administration that the curriculum is approved only if there are certain mandatory hours of the Bashkir language. The director of the 39th gymnasium confirmed to the publication that studying the Bashkir language is mandatory for all students at the school.

“In our school, teaching is conducted in accordance with the legislative framework of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Bashkortostan. The Bashkir language is required because we have a UNESCO school with a humanitarian focus, and a lot of languages ​​are studied. Schoolchildren study Bashkir from fourth to ninth grade.", - said the head of the educational institution.

But the UNESCO school can hardly be called an indicator for controversy, because it was initially organized with the condition of learning several languages ​​at once. Why not Bashkir too?

But in ordinary schools, for example, in 44, the Bashkir language is included in the compulsory curriculum from the second grade. Parents have different views on this. Some Russian speakers who are not native speakers of Bashkir culture are happy to learn the language, considering it an excellent workout for the brain and the overall development of the child. And some are categorically against the “extra” item.

“I am against the imposition of any language. Russian is our state language. We will teach him. If we were offered to study Bashkir as a foreign language, I would have no complaints. But I still wouldn't agree. The whole world speaks English, Chinese has become very widespread, so they can really come in handy,”- said the mother of one of the future students of the school.

The activists, however, did not stand still; they collected signatures from parents who were opposed to studying Bashkir at school and sent complaints to the prosecutor’s office. As Ufa1.ru writes, a number of inspections were carried out by Rospotrebrnadzor in all schools of the republic, which also revealed a whole list of violations of legislative norms, for example, in the use of textbooks and teaching aids, standardization of educational processes, as well as inconsistencies of local acts of some schools with federal standards and republican legislation on education. All identified violations were collected in one document and attached to a submission from the republican prosecutor’s office addressed to Rustem Khamitov with a demand to eliminate the violations. The response must be received no later than 30 calendar days after the submission. The press service of the regional head confirmed that they had received the request and were ready to respond within the specified time frame.

It is not yet clear what the head of the republic himself thinks about what is happening. In the regional government, at one of the meetings, he said that general education institutions in Bashkiria have a sufficient basis for the transition to compulsory study of the Bashkir language, but immediately softened his statement with the statement that the government should rely primarily on federal educational standards. It turns out that the head of Bashkortostan does not yet have an official opinion, as such, only possible options for the development of events. Floating formulations still do not make it clear what is important in the current long-term situation: will the Bashkir language be in the compulsory curriculum or will it become an elective? We hope that the response to the regional prosecutor's office will come with more precise instructions and explanations.

23:58 — REGNUM

In Bashkiria, after a period of relative calm, controversy has flared up again around the study of state and native languages ​​by Russian-speaking schoolchildren in schools and classes with Russian as the language of instruction. The discussion arose after the publication of data from the prosecutor's audit and an interview with the head of the region Rustem Khamitov one of the publications where the topic of teaching the Bashkir language was touched upon. Interviewed IA REGNUM experts agreed that language policy in the republic should be in full compliance with federal legislation.

Alexandra Mayer © IA REGNUM

Prosecutor's inspections together with representatives of Rosobrnadzor on the study of the Bashkir language took place in the republic's schools in mid-May. As the chairman of the committee for protecting the rights of Russian-speaking schoolchildren told the agency Natalya BudilovA, about 300 schools were inspected. The audit showed that in most schools of the republic, the Bashkir language as a state language is included in the mandatory part of the main general education curriculum as a compulsory subject, while this discipline can only be included in the part of the curriculum formed by the participants in educational relations, that is, it must be included into the curriculum only at the request of the parents.

Let us remind you that a prosecutor's audit in schools revealed facts of infringement of the rights of parents to choose curricula, their non-compliance with the Federal State Standards (FSES), curricula are adopted without taking into account the opinions of parents in schools in Ufa, Neftekamsk, Oktyabrsky, Arkhangelsk, Baltachevsky, Blagovarsky, Gafuriysky, Davlekanovsky, Sterlitamak districts, which contradicts the requirements of Article 44 of the Federal Law “On Education in the Russian Federation”. In many schools, the Bashkir language is taught to the detriment of the study of the Russian language: for example, in the compulsory part of the MOBU curriculum (with Russian as the language of instruction) in the village of Imendyashevo, Gafuriysky district, the number of hours in the first grade allocated to the study of the Bashkir language was 5 hours, allocated for the Russian language only 2 hours.

Parent activists believe that the violations became possible due to pressure on school management from the Ministry of Education of Bashkiria and representatives of district administrations, who enter into a contract with school directors and may not renew the contract in case of “disobedience.” Directors were forced to adopt the curriculum that was beneficial to the regional Ministry of Education and officials, that is, a training plan with the Bashkir language. Directors of Russian-language schools and employees of the Ministry of Education of the Republic deliberately misled parents that the Bashkir language was a compulsory subject to study. Even on the website of the Ministry of Education there were old curriculum plans in which the Bashkir language was a compulsory part.

According to Budilova, for several months they collected complaints from parents of schoolchildren from different regions of Bashkiria, published on the website of the government of the Republic of Belarus and official responses from officials. Parents said that their children, in violation of the law, are practically deprived of the opportunity to choose any subjects other than the Bashkir language to deepen their knowledge. There were other facts of violation of the educational rights of students. “Parents from Sterlitamak approached me, they told me that in a regular school with teaching in Russian, despite the protests of parents, the Bashkir language was introduced already in the first grade, although according to the law, the Bashkir language as a state language can only be studied from the second grade, if this parents wish. In one of the gymnasiums in the city of Yanaul, all schoolchildren of different nationalities from the second to the 11th grade studied the Bashkir language 3 hours a week as their native language in addition to two hours of Bashkir as the state language, for a total of 5 hours a week,” noted the consultant of the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Russian-Speaking Schoolchildren Bashkiria Galina Luchkina.

According to those present at the inspection, many school directors showed complete incompetence in the field of legislation in relation to the study of native and state languages. At first, some directors flaunted: “What do we care about this inspection, we are not afraid, there is someone to stand up for us,” but later, having become convinced of the precariousness of their position and its inconsistency with federal legislation, they changed their minds.

From the response of the republican prosecutor's office dated May 25, 2017 to Budilova, it follows that the republican prosecutor made a submission to the head of Bashkiria Rustem Khamitov, which “is under consideration.”

Alexandra Mayer © IA REGNUM

From the history of the issue

Compulsory study of the Bashkir state language in all schools and many kindergartens of the republic was introduced in 2006 at the insistence of the then head of Bashkiria Murtaza Rakhimov. The Bashkir state language was taught to Russian-speaking students (the majority of them in the republic) as part of the national-regional component (NRK) of general education, which at that time was under the jurisdiction of regional authorities. According to social activists, it was most difficult for Russian-speaking children with speech disorders, hyperactivity, and limited physical and mental capabilities. In many Russian-language kindergartens, the rates of speech therapists were reduced, and teachers of the Bashkir language were hired in their place. Studying the Bashkir language was not easy for Russian-speaking first-graders with speech problems (their share among first-graders is up to 25%).

At the initiative of the State Duma in 2007, the concept of NRC was abolished. According to the updated federal law “On Education,” all schools in Russia have switched to a unified federal state educational standard (FSES). According to this document, the main educational program is divided into two parts: a mandatory part and a variable part, formed by participants in educational relations, that is, students, parents and teachers.

The compulsory language part of the program includes Russian, native (non-Russian) language and foreign languages. But the Federal State Educational Standard does not provide for compulsory teaching of a non-Russian language in the event that it is neither native nor foreign. Teaching regional languages ​​is a voluntary (variable) part of the educational program. Parents, as representatives of the interests of students, have the right to choose one of several curriculum options, both with and without the Bashkir state language.

Unnoticed meeting

Presumably, the result of the “consideration” was a meeting on the teaching of state and native languages ​​in the region, which was held by the head of Bashkiria Rustem Khamitov on June 15 at the House of the Republic. The conversation was attended by members of the government of the Republic of Belarus, heads of relevant ministries and departments, and representatives of the scientific community. Information from the official website of the head of the republic noted that, based on the results of inspections carried out by Rosobrnadzor in educational institutions of the region, a number of violations of legislative norms were identified in terms of the use of textbooks and teaching aids, standardization of the educational process, as well as non-compliance of local acts of some schools with federal and republican standards legislation on education. “The priority of the activities of educational authorities and educational organizations should be to meet the needs of schoolchildren in learning their native languages, subject to strict compliance with federal and republican legislation,” it was emphasized at the meeting.

The fact of holding the meeting did not cause any resonance among the expert community and the public.

Alexandra Mayer © IA REGNUM

Language and career, to be honest...

An outburst of emotions erupted on June 20, after an interview with Rustem Khamitov was published on one of the resources. In this interview, the head of the republic noted that “the Bashkir state language is taught in all schools for 1 to 2 hours” starting from the second grade. “The native language can be Bashkir, Russian, Tatar, or Chuvash, and the program devotes 2 to 3 to 4 hours a week to studying native languages ​​of the parents’ choice. In total, it turns out, if we talk about the Bashkir language, in the limit of 1 plus 4 - this is 5 hours. So, to learn your native language you need written consent from your parents. This is the first. Secondly, and this is the main condition, if there is such agreement, then children learn one or another native language at school. Today we know that in a number of schools there are violations, that not all parents have received written consent to study the Bashkir language. Once again, by September 1, we want to restore order in this part, as they say, by interviewing parents and holding class parent meetings,” Khamitov stated.

According to the head of the republic, “today there is no difficulty for those who would like to study the Bashkir language as their native language and for those who would like to study Russian as their native language.” Khamitov gave a short historical excursion: “The situation with the study of native languages ​​in schools dates back to the 90s. Then very strict laws were adopted in the republics, when they were simply obliged and that’s all. Then the legislation was modified and the conditions were softened. Then there were reforms in this part, and the last of them was in the 12th and 13th years, when they stopped studying the native language in the 10th and 11th grades. But it was from the 1st to the 11th. Today the 1st is gone, the 10th is gone, the 11th is gone - and nothing happened. Our citizens approached this story very intelligently and accepted it calmly, without any conflicts or contradictions. The next iteration, the next step to soften the position, of course there will be one. And there is no complexity, a terrible one, when passions are heightened, when this is talked about, warring parties appear.”

How accurate the head of the republic was in his interpretation of the republican legislation remains to be seen, but in describing the psychological component of the linguistic collision, he was certainly right: for the most part, the residents of the republic, having their own opinion on this burning issue, perceive today’s linguistic realities quite calmly. There are, however, exceptions. Some representatives of individual national movements regarded the conversation between the presenter and the head of the republic as policy statements, which made them extremely alarmed.

The scale of the storm in a teacup caused by these words can be assessed by the headlines: “Khamitov is again abolishing the Bashkir language,” “The prosecutor’s office of Bashkortostan asked the head of the republic, Rustem Khamitov, to deal with the Bashkir language,” “Compulsory study of the Bashkir language may be abolished in schools.” A purely technical question about the choice of curricula was accompanied by tendentious statements that “mandatory knowledge of the language should be required of all representatives of the public sector, including doctors, police officers and politicians, and that the careers of residents of the republic depend on knowledge of the national language, as is done in Kazakhstan.” “,” “Khamitov’s Ministry of Education makes no attempts to train teachers,” “opponents of studying the Bashkir language are supported from Moscow,” and the usual cliches about “anti-Bashkir sentiments,” “disrespect,” and the threat of “liquidation of national republics.”

Alexandra Mayer © IA REGNUM

Expert opinions: Bashkiria is not Kazakhstan!

Former leader of the World Kurultai of Bashkirs Azamat Galin with his characteristic self-irony, he noted that the problem of learning the Bashkir language by children who are not native speakers can be attributed to the general problem of most languages, and in the future, Russian. “The global economy is erasing not only borders, but also languages. For voluntary language learning, appealing to traditions, customs and boundaries does not encourage “non-native speakers.” It is possible to force one to learn, but it is impossible to force one to learn a language. There must be a leading industry that motivates. For example, before in space everyone spoke Russian, since Russia was the leader. Now English and Chinese are already fighting for leadership, this is a natural process. You can't stop it, you can try to slow it down. The conclusion is simple: become a leader, and everyone will learn the language themselves. In all seriousness, the public figure believes that the forced system of universal study of the Bashkir language was introduced by Rakhimov to demonstrate his loyalty to the Bashkirs.

Political scientist DmitriyMikhailichenko also called the current state of the problem with the study of the Bashkir language in the republic the inertia of Rakhimov’s policy to create a special position for the “titular nation.” “It is characteristic that journalists in Moscow perceive Bashkiria as a national republic. I always object to this: “is the Saratov region nationalless?” Our republic is multinational, not national, and we need to talk about preserving the traditions, culture and language of all languages ​​of traditional ethnic groups (Bashkirs, Russians and Tatars). In addition, there are a lot of interethnic marriages and people with mixed (inclusive) identities in the republic,” the expert believes. The agency’s interlocutor is confident that the issue of studying the Bashkir language should become a matter of public consensus. “At the same time, of course, there is no point in imposing it directively. This simply will not lead to a positive result, but it will certainly meet resistance. In this case, it is important that civil society institutions and citizens themselves reach agreement on a case-by-case basis. Let me emphasize, it is impossible to impose. I see the role of the republican government and, above all, the Ministry of Culture as establishing, and not imitating, this dialogue,” the political scientist emphasized.

The expert noted with regret that some activists are trying to resolve the issue head-on. “But the situation is more complicated. If you want people to learn Bashkir, make it attractive. Interest in the language is awakened not by orders (in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and Latvia all this has already happened), but by soft power, the creation of attractive, modern formats (gamification, for example). I think it’s wrong to say that you need to pay “tribute.” If I don’t know Bashkir, it doesn’t mean that I don’t respect the culture of this people. I have many Bashkir friends, I studied the history of the Bashkirs for five years and respect the tradition of this distinctive people. But this does not mean that my children have to pay some kind of “tribute”. And it seems to me an insulting situation when the school director or any official from the Ministry of Education will give directives,” concluded Mikhailichenko.

Tatar social activists, preferring not to mention the language problem (ethnolinguistic conflict) in Tataria, believe that “language policy in the republic should be in full compliance with federal legislation, which gives student representatives the opportunity to determine whether or not their child will learn Bashkir or any other national language.” language".

Ordinary Ufa residents answer briefly: “Bashkiria is not Kazakhstan, Bashkiria is Russia, but somehow we’ll sort out the languages ​​ourselves, we’ve never beaten each other just because of language, we don’t beat each other, and we won’t beat each other.”

Background

In the national republics, for many years there was a problem with the teaching of native languages; there were complaints about being forced to study native languages, in particular Tatar. Parents of Russian-speaking schoolchildren complained about the prevalence of the Tatar language over Russian. A prosecutor's inspection carried out in the republic in 2017 as part of Vladimir Putin's instructions revealed a lot of violations, including in almost all schools in Tatarstan the volume of Russian language lessons was below the standards approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. Violations of students' rights have been eliminated and now parents can choose a program where they independently determine their child's native language. In Tatarstan, over 115 thousand parents chose Russian as their native language.
In Bashkiria and Tatarstan today there are republican programs for supporting native languages.

The situation with the study of state languages ​​in schools in Bashkiria has been haunting local residents for several years. Traditionally, defenders and opponents of compulsory study of the Bashkir language clash head-on. The first are afraid that without support their native language may lose its speakers. The latter believe that the compulsory Bashkir language needlessly “eats up” hours of the school curriculum.

In fact, the Russian and Bashkir languages ​​have the same status in our republic. According to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, both languages ​​are state languages ​​and have equal rights.

New teaching methods are needed

The head of the region spoke about the voluntary nature of studying Bashkir at a republican meeting on education.

The Bashkir language will be studied in the republic. At the same time, federal educational standards must be observed. The comments made by the prosecutor's office will be taken into account, he said Rustem Khamitov. - Of course, we all understand that some graduates of city schools cannot speak, read or write Bashkir. Therefore, you need to take a different approach to learning the Bashkir language.

Rumors spread across the republic that Bashkir language teachers will soon begin to be laid off en masse.

We will introduce electives and some other forms of work for these teachers. Otherwise, “hot heads” have already appeared, they say that there will be layoffs. No! I simply forbid it. Work, look for options,” said the head of Bashkiria.

At the same time, Khamitov called on education workers to work with parents.

We live in Bashkortostan, so it’s clear that if schools in the variable part teach the Bashkir language for one hour a week, including as the state language, nothing bad will come from this, it will only be good,” he concluded.

And on September 15, Rustem Khamitov signed a decree “On measures to develop the state languages ​​of Bashkiria.” In particular, it talks about the establishment of annual grants from the head of Bashkiria for the implementation of projects aimed at preserving, promoting and developing the state languages ​​of the republic. Also with this document he created the Foundation for the Development of the Bashkir Language.

“We study at will”

Soon after this, the Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus spoke about innovations in the procedure for studying the state languages ​​of the republic.

On August 28, Vladimir Putin's instructions were issued. Now each parent must decide which language he defines as his child’s native language, and then write an application to school to study his native language. Bashkir is offered as an elective language as a state language. But it should definitely be offered for study. This is determined by the Constitution of Bashkortostan and the law “On the languages ​​of the Republic of Bashkortostan,” said Gulnaz Shafikova.

Everyone interested in high-quality teaching of the Bashkir language will be weighed down by the burden of responsibility towards those who chose the language at will. Therefore, the training program needs to be filled with real content and approached in a non-formal way,” notes the Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus. - According to preliminary data, more than 73% of parents have now chosen the Bashkir language. This figure suggests that children and parents perfectly understand the importance of learning the Bashkir language and value mutual understanding.

The dispute was brought to the square

Despite all the statements of the authorities, activists of the Bashkort organization held a rally in defense of their native language. The city authorities did not approve it, proposing to choose another time and place. Social activists, insisting on their own, challenged the decision of the Ufa administration in court, which ultimately sided with them.

As a result, last Saturday, September 16, activists gathered more than a thousand sympathizers in the square in front of the Sports Palace. The event was held in an “open microphone” format - anyone could speak freely.

Reducing the hours of the Bashkir language leads to a split in society, this cannot be allowed. Bashkir is the state language, said speakers from the crowd.

There were many onlookers, random passers-by and police officers on the site. The latter, by the way, occasionally supported the speakers with modest applause. Participants came with whole families - with children and elderly parents. Somewhere a kurai was playing and speech in Bashkir was heard from everywhere. But some activists also spoke in Russian - apparently, they wanted to attract the attention of Russian-speaking passersby.

Fortunately, at the rally itself there were no incidents. All participants in the meeting in an impromptu Hyde Park went home within a few hours. By the way, even a few days after the rally, the authorities did not comment on the event, which brought together more than a thousand people.

COMPETENTLY

Dmitry MIKHAILICHENKO, political scientist:

Finally, the Ministry of Education of the Republic was able to clearly express its position on the controversial issue of studying the Bashkir language. By the way, in neighboring Tatarstan the authorities prefer a different, more ambiguous line of positioning. It seems to me understandable and sensible, because no one can be forced to learn a non-native language.

I am sure that if we now conducted a sociological survey in Bashkiria, the majority of respondents would answer that they support the idea of ​​voluntary language learning. However, it is still important to see how this position will be implemented on the ground. Not everything is so simple here.

As for the very subject of the dispute (the Bashkir language), it needs full support and, above all, among the Bashkirs themselves. Even if we don’t take Ufa, there are also many Bashkirs living throughout the country and abroad who are vitally interested in effective programs for learning the Bashkir language. In our country, for some reason, a number of activists are fixated on the problem of imposing language learning on all residents of a multinational republic, which causes rejection among those who disagree.

Dmitry KAZANTSEV, political scientist:

Trivially speaking, the positive agenda prevailed over the negative, and common sense defeated populism. Ethnic nationalists failed to politicize the issue of studying the Bashkir language in schools, even despite the loud protests they initiated and numerous information spreads on social networks. And the republican authorities, on the contrary, managed to convey to the parent community the importance of the voluntary nature of teaching native and non-native languages ​​in Bashkiria. This is the outcome of the public discussion and was stated by the Minister of Education of the region Gulnaz Shafikova, voicing data on the significant support by the residents of the republic for the study of the Bashkir language as the state language in the new academic year.

In the Republic of Bashkiria, a struggle has unfolded against the imposition of the Bashkir language in Russian-language secondary schools. The indignant parents managed to achieve the first successes - the republican prosecutor's office at the end of May identified violations and promised to bring one of the directors to disciplinary liability.

Gymnasium 39 in Ufa is considered one of the best schools in Bashkiria. Even families from remote areas of the city seek to settle their offspring here. However, recently the gymnasium has become a real battlefield between supporters and opponents of studying the Bashkir language. Parents of students of this gymnasium have united in the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Parents and Students of Educational Institutions with Russian as the Language of Instruction in Bashkiria and are trying to defend the right of their children not to study the Bashkir language without fail.

The problem has been brewing for a long time. Back in 2006, by order of the Ufa administration, compulsory Bashkir language lessons were introduced in all 160 educational institutions of the city. This was done within the framework of the national-regional component (NRC) of general education, which at that time was under the jurisdiction of regional authorities. The initiators of the innovation were not embarrassed by the fact that according to the results of the 2002 All-Russian Census, 50% of Russians, 28% of Tatars and only 15% of Bashkirs lived in Ufa, a million-strong city.

However, by decision of the State Duma in 2007, references to the NRC disappeared from the federal law “On Education”, and all schools switched to a single federal state educational standard (FSES). According to this document, the main educational program is divided into two parts: the mandatory part and the part formed by the participants in educational relations, which include students, parents and teachers.

In addition to other subjects, the compulsory part of the program includes the Russian language, native (non-Russian) language and foreign languages. But the Federal State Educational Standard does not provide for compulsory teaching of a non-Russian language in the event that it is neither native nor foreign. In other words, those schoolchildren whose native language is Russian are not required by law to study the state languages ​​of the republics where they live. Teaching local languages ​​is a voluntary (variable) part of the educational program.

However, the authorities of many republics, including Bashkiria, continue to force Russian-speaking students to study national languages, thereby depriving parents of the right to choose. Instead of spending hours of the elective part of the curriculum on mathematics or English, schoolchildren are forced to study the complex grammar of Turkic and Finno-Ugric dialects, which is often beyond the capabilities of even language university students. In addition, the knowledge gained from these lessons can hardly be useful in real life or when obtaining higher education.

The lower classes are dissatisfied, the upper classes are inactive

Dissatisfaction with this situation is increasingly breaking out. As Galina Luchkina, a member of the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Russian-Speaking People in Bashkiria, told the site’s correspondent, similar initiative groups also operate in Tatarstan, Buryatia and Komi. " About 5 years ago, we even held parallel rallies for the Russian language: they were in Kazan, and we were in Ufa, standing in single pickets for the right of Russian children to fully study their native language. In 2012, we, parents from Tatarstan, Bashkiria, Buryatia and Komi, were even invited to the State Duma, listened attentively and promised to help, but since then nothing has been done"- says Luchkina.

In May, another scandal on this topic broke out in Kazan. The new gymnasium, the opening of which the residents of the Azino district had been waiting for a long time, in fact turned out to be Tatar: for every four Tatar classes there will be one non-Tatar one, which clearly does not reflect the ethnic composition of the area. Many parents expressed their outrage that children with Tatar surnames are automatically enrolled in Tatar-language classes.

President of the Institute of National Strategy Mikhail Remizov in an interview, the site called a similar language policy "an act of ethnic discrimination".

« It is important that there is essentially legal discrimination against the Russian population, which does not have the opportunity to choose to study Russian as a native language. Classroom hours are divided into the study of the state and native languages, the state language is Russian, and only Tatar or Bashkir is studied as a native language. It turns out that on the territory of these republics the Russian language does not have the status of a native language for the Russian population, explains the expert. - This issue has been raised more than once within the walls of the State Duma, even in the Committee on Interethnic Relations, and the president also gently touched upon it in the sense that it is necessary to ensure greater freedom of choice for parents. However, the problem is still there, and the problem has not been solved “says Mikhail Remizov.

According to the expert, attempts to improve the situation with the Russian language in the national republics are blocked at the very top.

« The former head of the Duma Committee on Nationalities Affairs, Gadzhimet Safaraliev, advocated taking measures that would solve the language problem. But now the committee is headed by Ildar Gilmutdinov, a representative of Tatarstan, who pursues a clear line on ethnic lobbying, so the chances of the Duma making such decisions have decreased "- emphasizes Remizov. By the way, Gilmutdinov himself refused to answer the site’s questions about the situation of the Russian language in the national republics of the Volga region.

Ufa gymnasium became a battlefield

While the authorities ignore the problem, local parents themselves have to fight for their rights. In Ufa, the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Russian-Speaking Parents and Students of Bashkiria was headed by Natalya Budilova, mother of two children studying at the 39th Ufa gymnasium. For a long time, the leadership of the educational institution did not allow her to choose another subject for her children instead of the Bashkir language.

Budilova complained about the violation of federal legislation to the prosecutor's office of Bashkortostan. And on May 25, an encouraging answer came from there (a copy of the document is available to the editorial website): in the 39th gymnasium, violations were identified in the preparation of curriculum, the guilty official was brought to disciplinary liability, and the situation was reported to the head of the republic.

The site's correspondent spoke with Natalya Budilova about what happened.

Natalya, how many hours per week are devoted to the Bashkir language in the curriculum of secondary schools with Russian as the language of instruction?

Usually two lessons, but there are schools where Bashkir is taught three or five lessons a week. In addition, for 10 years we have been studying such a subject as “Culture of Bashkortostan”. Only Bashkir poets and cultural figures pass there. This takes another lesson a week.

- At what point did you decide for yourself that your children would not learn the Bashkir language?

My daughter is now in the fifth grade, my son is in the seventh. In the fifth grade, when learning the Bashkir language began, my son began to come to me with a textbook on this subject and complain that he did not understand anything, although he was an excellent student and always studied very well. He didn't understand how to complete the assignment or how to do his homework. I started asking other parents how they got by. It turned out that their children were being helped by relatives or acquaintances of the Bashkirs. Then I went to the teacher and said that for my son and other Russian-speaking children it was necessary to create a special group with other teaching methods designed for non-native speakers. But the teacher refused to cooperate and demanded that the children memorize long poems in Bashkir, of which they did not understand a word. And those who did not want to do this were simply given two marks.

- And you decided to fight for your rights?

At first, I just sat down at the computer, went to the website of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Bashkortostan and was surprised to discover that the Bashkir language is not compulsory. They simply hid this information from us. Neither parent, including me, knew that we could legally give up this item in favor of another. And at the end of the school year, at a parent meeting, I explained to other parents that, according to the basic curriculum, the Bashkir language is in the part formed by the participants in educational relations, and therefore we can include any other subject in this part. And the parents almost unanimously signed an application addressed to the director so that the Bashkir language would be replaced with Russian, mathematics or English.

- Probably only Russian parents supported you?

Ufa and other large cities of Bashkiria are predominantly Russian, and many students at our 39th gymnasium come from Russian families. But representatives of other nationalities are not eager to learn the Bashkir language. For example, there are 36 children in our class. Of these, three are Bashkirs, the rest are Russians and Tatars. Only the parents of one Bashkir child expressed a desire to learn the Bashkir language. The rest wanted to change it to Russian or English. By the way, for those who want to fully master Bashkir, there are many schools with the Bashkir language of instruction, and it is not clear why it should be imposed on Russian-language schools.

Chauvinists take it out on children

Unfortunately, Natalya did not find understanding at school. Perhaps the director was under pressure from higher structures.

- Did the school try to take into account the wishes of the parents?

No, we did not wait for the director’s response, and then I wrote an appeal to the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Bashkortostan. And then in August, before the start of the next school year, director Kiekbaeva Irina Petrovna personally began calling every parent and saying that she could not exempt our class from studying the Bashkir language. A special parent meeting was held on this occasion, and only seven parents attended. Under pressure from the school administration and a representative of the Republican Education Committee, the parents agreed to study Bashkir, however, instead of the required two lessons, our class was allowed to limit ourselves to one lesson per week.

- But you decided not to give up?

I demanded that the school create an individual curriculum for my children. And then they called me to the director, called all the head teachers, shamed me, and wanted to take me in numbers.

The director shouted at me that I was a troublemaker, a destroyer. I am destroying everything that she has been building here for years, that I am inciting national hatred, that because of me a war will begin here like in Ukraine. She also asked why I hate Bashkirs. They promised to keep my children for the second year.

The photograph of my excellent-study daughter was taken from the honorary daughter. They threatened that they would open a whole case against me and send all my letters to the education committee so that they could deal with me there. In general, few people can withstand such pressure as I did.

After that, I filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office, and at the end of the year I wrote a statement of claim to the court so that my children would be given the opportunity to study according to an individual curriculum next year.

The other day, the prosecutor's office ordered that violations in your gymnasium be corrected. Are you not going to stop there?

If our Ministry of Education continues to hide information from school principals about the rights of parents, and continues to misinform them, then the fight will have to be waged in every school. If the Ministry of Education fulfills its functions, then the need for our committee will disappear by itself. After all, all this time their rights were hidden from their parents, and those who found out about them were simply deceived and waged a long-lasting paper war.

Officials washed their hands of

The editors of the site turned to the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Bashkortostan for comments, but they rushed to shift responsibility for what was happening to the leadership of the educational institution. " In relation to the gymnasium, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus does not have the right to carry out control and supervisory activities“, explained the department’s press service.

According to officials, “for the 2016-2017 academic year, the Ministry did not approve approximate basic curricula; accordingly, educational organizations independently developed and approved curricula.”

This information was confirmed by the director of the 39th gymnasium, Irina Kiekbaeva. In her response to the site’s request, she indicated: “according to current legislation, a school can build its own educational trajectory. In our gymnasium, for all students without exception, the emphasis is on the humanitarian component and language learning. We study Russian, Bashkir, English, German, French and Chinese. When parents come to our school, they get acquainted with our regulatory framework, where our priorities are spelled out.”

However, Kiekbaeva did not answer why the curricula in the 39th gymnasium are drawn up without taking into account the opinions of parents, which was revealed during the prosecutor’s audit.

She also ignored the question about why, in a gymnasium with a language bias, this very bias must necessarily be towards the Bashkir language, and not English or French, as the students themselves and their parents would like. One can only guess how many more directors like Kiekbaeva continue to serve the interests of regional ethnocracies in Bashkiria and other national republics.

How are things going in your national republic or autonomy? Are children forced to learn the local language or, perhaps, on the contrary, are they deprived of the opportunity to master the second state language of a given territory? Write in the comments and to our email, if possible, leave information for feedback: INFOX editorial team. RU plans to cover this topic further and, to the best of his ability, contribute to the normalization of the situation.

Teaching the Bashkir language in the republic contrary to the consent of parents is not allowed. The press service of the prosecutor's office of Bashkortostan recalled this in a special message.

“The law establishes the right, not the obligation, to study native languages ​​and state languages ​​of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation,” the department said in a statement, referring to Art. 14 of the Federal Law “On Education in the Russian Federation”. — Teaching native languages, including the Bashkir language, contrary to the consent of the parents (legal representatives) of students is not allowed. Administrative liability is provided for illegal restriction of the rights and freedoms of students provided for by the legislation on education.”

Head of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov promised to abolish the compulsory study of the Bashkir language in the republic. Khamitov sees an alternative to this as voluntary study of the Bashkir language, including in the form of elective classes in schools and additional courses in universities.

Let us note that the President of the Russian Federation held a broad discussion at the Council on Interethnic Relations, which took place on July 20 in Yoshkar-Ola. Vladimir Putin, let us remind you: “Forcing a person to learn a language that is not his native language is just as unacceptable as reducing the level of teaching Russian.”

Some regarded this as a direct indication that one of the two state languages ​​of the Republic of Tatarstan - Tatar - will no longer be compulsory to study in school. And some even interpreted the loud statement as a kind of “black mark” to the authorities of Tatarstan after the recent appeal of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan to the highest authority.

However, according to BUSINESS Online sources, the immediate reason for Putin’s statement was the specific situation that developed in neighboring Bashkortostan. In one of the schools in Ufa, a committee was created to protect the rights of Russian-speaking schoolchildren. They complained about the imposition of the Bashkir language on the prosecutor of the republic, a native of Chelyabinsk Andrey Nazarov. He carried out an inspection of over 300 schools in Bashkortostan, following which on May 25 he issued a report addressed to the head of the republic Rustem Khamitov. The essence of the claims is that the schools included the Bashkir language as a compulsory part of the program, and in some places to the detriment of Russian.

Khamitov tried to give an explanation in an interview with the editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy. Alexey Venediktov dated June 19. According to his version, the Bashkir language in the schools of the republic is studied in two forms - as a state language and as a native language. One or two hours of “state” Bashkir, in his opinion, are due to everyone, and two to four “native” ones are only voluntary, at the choice of the parents.

However, soon the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus and the Minister personally Gulnaz Shafikova issued explanations refuting the words of the head of the republic. It turned out that the “state” Bashkir school has the right to allocate one or two hours in the second to ninth grades only as part of the variable part of the curriculum or extracurricular activities. In this case, it is necessary to ask the opinion of the school’s parent committee. As a result, not all schoolchildren study Bashkir as the state language, but only 87.06% of students. Bashkir as a native language is assigned only to Bashkirs by nationality - and then only by written statement from the parents. Now 63.37% of children of non-Russian nationality are studying it. Let us add that the authorities of Bashkortostan agreed with the violations identified by the prosecutor’s office and promised to correct everything by September 1.