March 8, 2011
PRESS RELEASE
UKRAINIAN WORLD CONGRESS CALLS UPON UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT BODIES TO STOP THEIR DESTRUCTIVE COURSE ON UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE EDUCATION
The Ukrainian World Congress is deeply concerned with reports in the Ukrainian press of the threatened closing of educational institutions that offer Ukrainian language instruction in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, namely Ukrainian Schools #77 and #44 in Makiyivka, School #19 in the urban village Horniak, School #3 in Lysychansk, School #15 in Krasny Luch, School #111 and the Ukrainian Humanitarian College in Donetsk that have been reported in the Ukrainian press.
Alleging such concerns as optimization of the school system, lack of financing and the low number of students in these schools, Ukrainian government bodies are planning to close Ukrainian schools in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. As a result, school children would be denied the right to education in the state language.
“The Ukrainian World Congress calls upon the Ukrainian government bodies to stop their destructive course on Ukrainian language education in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, and to act in accordance with Article 10 of the Constitution of Ukrainethat clearly states the Ukrainian language is the state language of Ukraine and that the state ensures the comprehensive development and functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of social life throughout the entire territory of Ukraine,” said UWC President Eugene Czolij.
