Ukraine

The Law on Education adopted in 1991 secured the main principles of Ukrainian education: democracy; priority of humanistic values; organic connection with history, culture, and traditions; continuity; and diversity of educational opportunities. The program, "Osvita" or "Ukraine in the 21st Century" was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in November 1993.

Article 53 of the Constitution adopted in 1996 declares the right of every citizen to an education. Basic secondary education is compulsory. The state provides free primary, secondary, and vocational technical training in the state and communal institutions. Free higher education can be attained on a competitive basis. School is separated from the church, and education has a secular character. This provision is of special importance, because there are 60 different religious confessions existing in Ukraine.

In 1996 the Supreme Rada (Ukrainian parliament) adopted amendments to the Law on Education of 1991. The amended law defines the main principles underlying the educational system and establishes the areas of responsibility of the central and local administrative organs in the sphere of education. It also points out that educational institutions in Ukraine can be state, communal, or private property. The state standards set by the central organs specify the requirements to the content and level of instruction and professional training. They are approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, serve as the basis for the evaluation of the graduates' qualifications, and have to be reviewed every 10 years. The establishment of standards allows for an equivalency of qualifications on all the territory of Ukraine. In the future, it will provide the ground for the transferability of degrees between the countries, belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Any kind of political, religious, or military activity in educational institutions is prohibited. The state is expected to assist the development of science and culture, enhance educational opportunities for citizens from underprivileged social groups, and initiate contacts with the world educational community. The laws On Preschool Education, On Protection of Childhood, On General Secondary Education, On Professional Education, and On Higher Education, as well as numerous statutes and regulations, further specify the provisions of the Constitution and the main Law.

In the 1990s the government, concerned that the spheres of use of the Ukrainian language were limited, launched the policy of ukranization and de-russification. According to the new decrees, all the government officers have to be tested as to their knowledge of the Ukrainian language. The statute of the Council of Ministers, On the Program of the Development of the Ukrainian Language and Other National Languages (1991) and a complex plan of the Ministry of Education changed the approach towards the choice of languages at school. They set the aim of reshaping the educational network on the basis of the national structure and the needs of the population. The statute of the Ministry of Education of 1992 continued the same line and decreed the creation of a network of primary school grades, which would correspond to the national structure of each region. The Ministry also authorized moral and material encouragement of the teachers who used Ukrainian as the language of instruction. The number of hours allotted to the Russian language and literature was significantly reduced. Though Article 27 of the Law on Languages pronounced the study of Russian as an obligatory subject, the letter of 1993, signed by the Deputy Minister of Education, gave it the status of a foreign language and allowed schools to introduce other foreign languages instead of Russian. The new regulations also prescribe the de-russification of TV, radio, sports, tourism, and theaters, as well as the use of taxation mechanisms to regulate the flow of periodicals from abroad. The Concept of Education for National Minorities, developed by the Ministry of Education, envisages gradual transition to Ukrainian as the language of instruction, beginning with the fourth grade.

All these steps are expected to extend the spheres of usage of the Ukrainian language, intensify its free development, and enhance its prestige. The opponents of the policy of de-russification argue that a vast majority of the population prefers to use Russian in their everyday life, and therefore it cannot be regarded as a language of a national minority. They believe that the revival of Ukrainian culture cannot be achieved through the forcible introduction of the Ukrainian language, as well as the discrimination of other languages, including Russian. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation issued a note of protest against the violation of the rights of the Russian-speaking population. In response, the proponents of the Ukrainian linguistic policy insist on the right of the population to use their native language and revive the Ukrainian national identity.

This state policy brought about the increase of instruction in the Ukrainian language from 49 percent in 1990-1991 to 66 percent in 1999-2000. Educational institutions had to deal with the development of terminology for various subjects, which had not been taught in Ukrainian before. Other languages taught, represented at different types of educational institutions, include Hungarian, Moldavian, Romanian, Crimean Tartar, and German.