Paul
Goble
Staunton, June 2 – Sixty-seven leading
Tuvin intellectuals have signed an open letter protesting plans to reduce their
national language to the status of “a second foreign language,” the latest
indication of how far some regional officials are prepared to go to meet
Vladimir Putin’s plan to boost the study of Russian and how explosive such
moves may become.
Their letter, posted today on the
Tuva.asia portal, says that the proposal to reduce Tuvin to the status of a
second foreign language was made at a meeting of the All-Russian Popular Front
in Tuva on May 25 at which various members of the Tuvan government and
education ministry took part (tuva.asia/news/tuva/7984-otkrytoe-pismo.html).
Speakers at that meeting, the
authors of the open letter say, invoked Vladimir Putin’s call for “the
restoration of a common educational space” in the Russian Federation by ensuring
the study of non-Russian languages will not reduce either the study of the Russian
language or that of any other subjects.
Participants at the May 25 meeting
went beyond Putin’s words, the signatories say, by suggesting that “the study
of Tuvan in part is taking place at the expense of Russian, with part of the
hours devoted to this subject being given to the native language,” something
that the Peoples Front group said must end.
The best way forward, the May 25
meeting suggested, is to have Tuvin reduced to the status of a foreign language
in the republic and thus be in competition not with Russian but with other
foreign languages like English or Chinese. That is a clear violation of the
Russian Constitution and Russian law, the open letter says.
But what is most
worrisome, the authors say, is the participation of Tuvan officials in the May
25 meeting “logically raises the question: is this the state policy of the
Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tuva regarding Tuvan, the
language of the indigenous titular nation of the republic … or [only] the
personal opinion of the roundtable participants?”
Any decision “on
such a delicate question,” they continue, should not be taken without serious
research, competent analysis, and discussion among experts, all the more so
that what the May 25 meeting is proposing constitutes a direct violation of the
existing Federal State Education Standards document.
So far, the
authors add, the impression has been crated that “in the bowels of the Ministry
of Education of the Republic are being ignored the provisions of the Law on
Education” which requires that curricula reflect “regional social-economic,
ecological, demographic, ethno-cultural and other characteristics of the
subjects of the Russian Federation.”
The authors
concede that Russian language competence among Tuvans is not what it should be,
but they argue that the study of the theoretical foundations of that language
can be carried out in another because “the goal of such study is not practical
mastery but the study of language as a complex system.” International
experience confirms that.
The open letter
argues that “any language is the chief factor of ethnic identification, and
Tuvin is no exception. It is the pride of the Tuvin people, ensures the
maintenance and development of their spiritual culture: shamanism exists in it,
and it is used by the followers of Buddhism. It has a rich folklore,” and “it
is well-known throughout the entire world.”
“We do not have
the right to put under threat the disappearance of the Tuvin language” but must
do everything to preserve it and its more than 1500 year history, the authors
say. And thus, “it is impermissible to allow the study of Tuvin in schools as a
second foreign language” as the participants of the May 25 meeting have
suggested.
The authors
present six demands: First, they ask that the Tuvan government reject this
proposal. Second, they demand that the Peoples Front acknowledge that it was
mistaken in its proposals. Third, they
call for republic parliamentary hearings on the status of Tuvin in the
republic.
Fourth, they call for the
development of a program for the support of Tuvan through 2021. Fifth, they ask
that the education ministry review the activities of those of its employees who
took part in the May 25 meeting with an eye to correcting their mistakes. And
sixth, they demand that Tuvin parents not be forced to shift their children to
non-Tuvan languages.
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