A Statement and Proposals of Teachers of Educational Institutions with Hungarian as a Medium of Instruction on the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine „On Education” and Preservation of the National Minorities’ System of Education

On behalf of the Transcarpathian Hungarian Pedagogical Association we address all responsible persons, authorities, organizations that are involved and / or are interested in implementing the rights of citizens to education, ensuring equal possibilities for obtaining educational services at all levels. We consider it necessary to emphasize that the existence of a system of educational institutions with the Hungarian language as a medium of instruction is an extremely important right, with its preservation and protection being a priority task. The claim is founded on the fact that the Hungarian-speaking population is indigenous in Transcarpathia, who have been living on this territory for more than a thousand one hundred years, and their history, traditions, culture, as well as their own system of schools is closely related to this land, being its integral part. Both teachers and parents of Hungarian-language schools are deeply concerned about the future of their children and learners, and are ready to take full responsibility for the provision of relevant and high-quality education, the upbringing of a future generation that can realize itself in Ukraine, and integrate into Ukrainian society.

A comprehensive and professional analysis of the educational process of schools with the language of instruction of national minorities, teaching of Ukrainian and knowledge of the level of Ukrainian language acquisition, an insight into the current situation and the debate about the implementation of the new Education Act, Article 7 thereof, urge our pedagogical community to formulate certain remarks and express our position:

1. One of the reasons for reducing the scope of education in the languages of national minorities is the academic results obtained by the concerned school-leavers in the Ukrainian language as a subject at the examination as part of External Independent Assessment (EIA). It should be noted in this respect that the EIA in the Ukrainian language fails to measure the language competencies of school graduates in the areas referred to by the Ministry, which supposedly should enable school-leavers’ integration into Ukrainian society. This clearly follows from the description of certification works. The EIA tests assess school-leavers’ knowledge as if they were intending to continue their studies in Ukrainian philology at the tertiary level.

2. Following hundreds of petitions from representatives of schools with minority languages as instructional medium of local, regional and international public organizations, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine initiated discussions, plans, and “road maps” that announced initial steps to be taken towards full transition to teaching in Ukrainian. Unfortunately, except the forced introduction of education of a number of subjects not in the native language, there are still no clearly defined concepts, programmes and plans as to the implementation of new approaches to teaching the state language, as well as measuring the competencies of graduates for whom Ukrainian is not native language, i.e. the first language. Therefore, measuring their knowledge by means of assessment tools developed for those graduates, for whom Ukrainian is the native language / first language, is a violation of the basic principle of pedagogy – that of equality. It also violates the principle of providing equal access to studying at higher educational establishments proclaimed by the Bologna Process, which was joined by Ukraine in 2005.

3. A prerequisite for improving the command of the state language should be state funding indispensable for the development and implementation of such programmes and techniques that are truly capable of ensuring its proper acquisition. Absence of such plans eliminates the possibility of enhancing the instruction of state language. Whether the budget and funds are available for the aforementioned goals is doubtful. It is the case of not only publishing terminological and school dictionaries (which have not been prepared by the state yet), but also refers to workable programmes, methodologies, relevant textbooks, retraining courses for teachers etc.

4. Excellent state language command may be a necessary but not always sufficient precondition for the integration of school-leavers educated in the languages of minorities into various spheres of public life. It is the inadequate and poor knowledge of the subjects taught in Ukrainian schools to students not in their native language, which will inevitably lead to deterioration of students’ knowledge of these subjects, and in the future, as its direct consequence, the system of schools with the language of instruction of national minority, which is paramount for the preservation of their own people, their culture, traditions, and identity, will cease to exist.

In view of the aforementioned remarks, the Transcarpathian Hungarian Pedagogical Association considers it necessary to implement the following points:

1. The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine should continue to ensure the right for existence and funding of schools with languages of national minorities as a medium of education at equal status with schools with Ukrainian as a medium of instruction, without narrowing the scope of the already existing rights. Accordingly, in light of the Venice Commission’s proposals, amendments should be introduced to Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine „On Education”, which is the basic law for all prospective educational laws. Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine „On Education” contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine, and its implementation is a violation of the law, therefore implementation of the law must be suspended until a solution of this issue is based on equal dialogue with proposals of national minorities being taken into account.

2. Before changes to Article 7 of the law are made, new approach to teaching Ukrainian in schools of national minorities is to be introduced. In schools with languages of national minorities as medium of education, standards and instruction of the state language should be carried out in compliance with the General Standard of the Ukrainian language as a second / foreign language according to the international academic terminology of the second language and the Complex of Programmes in the Ukrainian language as a second / foreign language, developed according to different proficiency levels in the European languages: A1 – Elementary level; A2 – Basic level; B1 – I Intermediate level (order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine dated June 24, 2014, No. 750, http://old.mon.gov.ua/ua/activity/education/1410876247/). Scientific-methodological expertise of the aforementioned documents was carried out by the Institute of Ukrainian Language of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine named after O. Potebnya, the National Academy of Pedagogics of Ukraine and other educational institutions. The development of theoretical and practical foundations for teaching Ukrainian as a foreign/second language requires new approaches, methods, and a special interpretation of language phenomena. Such comprehensive educational standards should serve as a basis for teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language, which are to meet the needs of socio- humanitarian, educational, socio-cultural, and homeland areas of communication. Based on the experience of European countries, the Transcarpathian Hungarian Pedagogical Association estimates that schools with languages of national minorities as medium of education can implement the study of the state language:

a. by the end of the primary school at level A1 – Elementary level;
b. by the end of the basic secondary school at level A2 – Basic level;
c. by the end of the complete secondary school at level B1 – I Intermediate level;

3. Implementation of the state language instruction on the basis of the aforementioned concept requires introducing changes in the external independent assessment of the knowledge of school-leavers with the language of instruction of national minorities. Graduates of minority schools should take a language examination based on EIA in accordance with the standards of the respective language proficiency levels. Along with this, school-leavers should also have the right to take an examination (EIA) in their native language and literature, while the obtained results should be taken into consideration while enrolling in higher educational establishments.

4. The state should take care and provide financial support safeguarding the rights of all citizens to preserve the identity of their own people. Given this, the curriculum of schools with the language of instruction of national minorities should include the following items of the invariant part (that is, the subjects that are necessarily financed):

– in the 5th form – Hungarian ethnography;
– in the 6th form – Hungarian cultural studies;
– in grades 7-9 – history of the Hungarian people;
– in the syllabi of disciplines of artistic-aesthetic cycle sections on relevant topics of cultural heritage and art of Hungarians should be included.

5. For the vast majority effective assimilation of subjects is possible only in the native language. Studying native language as subject of instruction, as well as studying certain subjects in your native language is not equal to a school with the language of instruction of national minorities. The state should finance this type of educational institutions at all levels of education system. To guarantee equal rights for all citizens of Ukraine, it is necessary:

– to provide high-quality, timely translation and publication of textbooks in the language of instruction of national minorities;
– to provide high-quality, timely translation and publication of methodological, didactic and other materials in the language of instruction of national minorities that equals to the level of schools with the Ukrainian language of instruction;
– to provide high-quality translation of EIA tests;
– to adapt programmes and textbooks in the native language and literature issued in Hungary, as it is practiced in the Slovak school in the city of Uzhhorod
– completing documentation and issuing relevant documents is to be carried out in the language of the educational process.

The Transcarpathian Hungarian Pedagogical Association, Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education, Hungarian public organizations are ready for cooperation, and can delegate relevant specialists for the discussion and development of concepts and programmes that would ensure existence and functioning of a system of educational institutions with the language of instruction of national minorities.

Berehove, February 22, 2018.

President of THPA I.I. Orosz