Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed into law the bill “On Secondary Education” adopted by the country’s parliament, Verkhovna Rada, on Jan. 16, to help embody the education reform launched earlier in 2017.
According to a statement published on the presidential website on March 13, on adopting the bill, Ukraine has complied with the latest recommendation of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) on the Law on Education adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on Sept. 5, 2017 with regard to provision of educational services to people of ethnic minorities.
“With the adoption of the Law on Secondary Education, Ukraine has confirmed adherence to its international obligations in terms of guaranteeing rights of ethnic minorities,” the statement said.
In particular, the law stipulates that private educational institutions are free to choose the language of education. The new law develops provisions of the Law on Education and suggests three language models for general secondary education.
The first model is for indigenous peoples of Ukraine not residing in an environment of their own language and not having their own state to protect their language. This primarily concerns Crimean Tatars. Specifically for them, the possibility to study in the language of indigenous people from the first grade to the 11th (12th) grade is set forth in the law, along with the availability of Ukrainian classes.
The second model is recommended for schools teaching in the language of ethnic minorities, whose languages are EU languages. This model suggests teaching in a native language along with the state language in primary schools. Starting from the fifth grade, students will be taught in Ukrainian at least 20% of annual amount of class time, with a gradual increase of the ratio to 40% in the ninth grade. In high school, starting from the 10th grade, at least 60% of annual class time in such schools will be in Ukrainian, the only state language.
The third model will apply to other ethnic communities living in Ukraine. It concerns ethnic minorities whose language pertains to the same language family as Ukrainian and who primarily reside in an environment of their own language (Russian). This model suggests that, starting from the 5th grade, at least 80% of educational process will be in the state language.
