Ministry of Education: No problems with education in Belarusian

Everyone has the right to receive education in the language that it feels closer to - in Russian or Belarusian. To do this, the country has everything you need. So answered Head of Youth Department at the Ministry of Education Natallia Pshanichnaya to the Euroradio reporter's question about the difficulties with education in the Belarusian language.

"It is clear that we have two official languages, and each chooses his or her own. And a person has the right to learn using it ... . We have, in fact, the Belarusian classes, and we have Belarusian groups in kindergartens -- the only thing that matters here is the desire of our parents to do so. Our staff is well-prepared and can do it at a high level," said the official.

But if parents want their child to study in Belarusian from the first form, the choice of instruction language in the school closest to them may not be offered to them.

Natallia Pshanichnaya: "At the school you need to file an applicationt: I'm asking you to accept me as the first year pupil in this or that language. And it will be settled. Of course, if there is one application of the kind, no one will open a class for a single person. But you will be offered an option of studying perhaps in a neighboring school. We have a Belarusian-language schools in Minsk - enough of them to get an education there."

But there are situations when getting education in the native language in a neighboring school or grammar school is difficult. It is with this problem that on January 6 the artist Henadz Loika came to the Minister of Education. In the capital's arts college, Loika said,  "Russian is the native language of education." The artist went to the Minister to ensure that his daughter would be the only person taught in Belarusian, if there were no more people willing to join in.

"Mister Loika was offered to come up with concrete proposals to change the law - if he had any," said Deputy Education Minister Viktar Yakzhyk.

Today in Minsk, there are gymnasiums and two high schools with Belarusian language and one Russian-language schools (#68), which includes a Belarusian language school. There are Belarusian-language schools in both Hrodna and Mahiliou, in Barysau there is a Belarusian language gymnasium. As to the Belarusian-language kindergartens, there are 11 of them in Minsk. None of the regions have such kindregartens.

Photo and Video:Zmitser Lukashuk