<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="gmail-title" id="gmail-page-title">The Belarusian language in education: a reluctant revival? </h1>
<p class="gmail-submitted">
</p><div class="gmail-submitted"><span class="gmail-author-name"><a href="http://belarusdigest.com/category/author/ryhor-astapenia">Ryhor Astapenia</a></span> <span class="gmail-published-date">14 October 2016</span></div>
<div class="gmail-field gmail-field-type-filefield gmail-field-field-image">
<div class="gmail-field-items">
<div class="gmail-field-item gmail-odd">
<img src="http://belarusdigest.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/front_160px_width/story-images/u.png" alt="" title="" class="gmail-imagecache gmail-imagecache-front_160px_width gmail-imagecache-default gmail-imagecache-front_160px_width_default" width="182" height="160"> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail-field gmail-field-type-text gmail-field-field-img-decscription">
<div class="gmail-field-items">
<div class="gmail-field-item gmail-odd">
Ў is a letter that exists only in Belarusian; it is often used as a symbol of the language. </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>On 7 October, Alexander Lukashenka criticised education officials for
the lack of Belarusian language instruction in schools. According to
him, “because of amateurs in the Ministry of Education, it has come to
the point where pupils have six English classes per week, but only two
of Belarusian language”.</p>
<p>Such a statement may come as a surprise, given that Lukashenka is
largely responsible for Belarus's longstanding policy of Russification.
In 1994, when Lukashenka became president, three-quarters of Belarusian
school children studied in Belarusian, compared to only 13.7% now. In
universities, the number of students who study in Belarusian is a mere
0.1%.</p>
<p>The authorities are currently changing their policy towards the Belarusian language. The appointment of <a href="http://belarusprofile.com/en/profile/anisim-aliena" rel="nofollow">Alena </a><a href="http://belarusprofile.com/en/profile/anisim-aliena" rel="nofollow">Anisim</a>
of the Belarusian Language Society to the Parliament shows that the
Belarusian authorities do favour gradual measures promoting Belarusian.
However, these measures may not necessarily lead to a revival of the
Belarusian language, but rather simply prevent it from disappearing from
the Belarusian education system.</p>
<h1>Lukashenka and Belarusian medium education</h1>
<p>In the eyes of many, the person who contributed most to the decline
of the Belarusian language over the past twenty years would be Alexander
Lukashenka. After coming to power, the new head of state re-implemented
the Russification policy of the late Soviet Union, put in place after
World War II.</p>
<p>The Russian language's domination of the Belarusian linguistic
landscape would come as a surprise to those living in Belarus in the
first half of the 20th century. In 1950, 85% of newspapers were
published in Belarusian and in 1955 95% of schools operated in the
language. Nevertheless, by 1969 one third of Belarusian pupils were not
taught the Belarusian language at all. The role of the Belarusian
language declined until the collapse of the Soviet Union.</p>
<p>When Lukashenka became president in 1994, three-quarters of
Belarusian students studied in Belarusian. In 1990-1995 Belarus could
boast four times as many publications in Belarusian than ever before in
the past 400 years combined. However, after his election, the leader of
Belarus asserted that "the Belarusian language is an impoverished one"
and <a href="http://belarusdigest.com/story/analytical-paper-belarusian-identity-impact-lukashenkas-rule-16369">returned Belarus to a policy of Russification</a>.</p>
<h1>Lack of Belarusian language in the education system</h1>
<p>Lukashenka’s policy resulted in only 10.5% of preschool children,
13.7% of pupils and 0.1% students studying in Belarusian medium schools
in the 2015/16 academic year, according to official statistics.</p>
<p>None of the 52 universities in Belarus use Belarusian as the main
language of instruction. It seems that the only students whose whole
education programme is in Belarusian are those majoring in Belarusian
language and literature.</p>
<p>Moreover, some teachers are no longer teaching classes in Belarusian due to the <a href="http://belarusdigest.com/story/attracting-foreign-students-belarus-success-or-failure-26944">internationalisation of the Belarusian education system</a>.
As one professor from the Belarusian State University told the author,
he no longer gives his lectures on Belarusian foreign policy in
Belarusian because Turkmen students could not understand him.</p>
<p>The case of school children is also problematic, as it is often
difficult to find Belarusian-language teaching materials, calling
official figures into question. On 30 August, Radio Liberty published a
video in which a journalist attended a huge Education Fair and found few
publications in Belarusian on subjects such as geography or computer
science. This means that although schools are supposedly holding some
classes in Belarusian, they are in fact often conducted in Russian.</p>
<p>Many Belarusian cities, including <a href="http://belarusdigest.com/story/viciebsk-region-%E2%80%93-land-artists-and-terrorists-14372">Viciebsk</a>, a large regional centre with 350 thousand inhabitants, have no Belarusian-language school groups at all. In nearby <a href="http://belarusdigest.com/story/mahilo%C5%AD-region-%E2%80%93-homeland-lukashenka-14674">Mahiliou</a>, another large regional centre, only one pupil is studying in Belarusian.</p>
<p>This is a contrast to Minsk, where several Belarusian medium schools
remain, and they enjoy a prestigious reputation. In 2016, citizens of
Minsk even <u>t</u>ook turns waiting in line in the evening to be the
first in the morning to submit documents to apply for Belarusian medium
School №23.</p>
<h1>Not letting the Belarusian language die</h1>
<p>After the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the Belarusian authorities have <a href="http://belarusdigest.com/story/soft-belarusization-new-shift-lukashenkas-domestic-policy-22434">changed their approach</a>
to the Belarusian language, expanding its use in the public space. In
July 2014, Lukashenka made his first speech in Belarusian in decades.
However, official statements regarding expansion of the Belarusian
language in education have so far proved to have more hype than
substance.</p>
<p>Even if the government adds one more Belarusian language class per
week to school programmes, it will not change the fact that all other
classes will remain in Russian. Moreover, Belarus lacks higher education
institutions in Belarusian. Therefore, many people do not see the point
of learning exclusively in Belarusian at the school level.</p>
<pre class="gmail-analysis"><span>Analysis / <span></span></span><a href="http://belarusdigest.com/papers/belarusianidentity.pdf">Analytical Paper: Belarusian Identity - The Impact of Lukashenka's Rule</a>
The regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka rejected the ethno-national model
of state suggested by his predecessors in the early 1990s. Instead, he
restored a soviet style “statist nation” with a centralised bureaucratic
machine at its core.
<a class="gmail-readmore" href="http://belarusdigest.com/papers/belarusianidentity.pdf">Read more</a></pre><p>Lukashenka's words recall previous statements from the Minister of Education <a href="http://belarusprofile.com/en/profile/zuraukou-michail-anatoljevic" rel="nofollow">Mikhail Zhuraukou</a>.
After taking office in 2014, Zhuraukou stated that "geography and the
history of Belarus should be studied in the Belarusian language."
However, so far nothing has changed.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, it is possible that the authorities may be able to
slightly increase the role of the Belarusian language in society. This
may be the reason why the regime appointed Alena Anisim, vice-head of
the Belarusian Language Society, as one of the two <a href="http://belarusdigest.com/story/editorial-lukashenkas-election-message-west-27204">democratic leaning MPs</a> to the Parliament. It seems that she lacks any political agenda other than promoting the Belarusian language.</p>
<p>Moreover, the Belarusian language is no longer a political issue for
Lukashenka, as it was in the 1990s when his Russophile policy opposed
the Belarus-centric vision of the Belarusian Popular Front. Having
marginalised this opposition group, Lukashenka himself can afford to
take a more pro-Belarusian stance. Moreover, he lost his chance of
becoming president of Russia, so his new aim thus became strengthening
Belarus.</p>
<p>The leader of Belarus is unlikely to want more Belarusian medium
schools, but one more Belarusian language lesson in Russian medium
schools seems possible. It seems that the authorities remain reluctant
to revive the Belarusian language, but also want to avoid its
disappearance.</p><p><a href="http://belarusdigest.com/story/belarusian-language-education-reluctant-revival-27561">http://belarusdigest.com/story/belarusian-language-education-reluctant-revival-27561</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
</div>