Russian church school in Kyiv in full compliance with language law
Kyiv monastery grounds hosting an unregistered Russian school (Photo: Slidstvo.Info)
Ukraine’s State Language Protection Commissioner Olena
Ivanovska found no violations at an underground
school operating at a Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) monastery in Kyiv, investigative
outlet Slidstvo.Info reported on March 9.
In early January, Slidstvo.Info reported children at the unregistered school were taught from Soviet-era textbooks and instructed in Russian. After a review, the Commissioner told the journalists it could not identify any breaches of Ukrainian language laws.
The only potential concern cited was a line in the institution’s educational program referring to “developing competencies in younger pupils to communicate in their ‘native language,’ aside from the state and foreign languages.” The Commissioner said that, based on the context shown in the report, the phrase appeared to refer to parents’ native language (Russian). But the authorities added that the presence of such a paragraph in an educational program is outside the commissioner’s authority.
No parents of the school’s pupils complained that instruction was being provided in a language other than Ukrainian, the Commissioner said.
“In other words, no evidence or grounds were found that
would allow establishing a violation and holding possible violators
accountable,” it said.
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