Belarus schools offering education in native language sees a drop in students

In Belarus, the number of students who attend schools that offer education in the Belarusian language has reduced significantly over the past decade. Now they constitute just 13% of the total number of students. The aforesaid data has been provided by the Euroradio media outlet.

There are currently about 1,000 Belarusian schools in the country. These are mostly small rural schools. As for the capital, Minsk, only 9 schools offer education in the native language.

As Vasiliy Zharko, the Belarus Vice-Premier, told Euroradio, “Lessons could be delivered based on Belarusian or Russian textbooks, upon a child’s request. Textbooks in both languages are available at schools.”

However, as Euroradio was told by the Belarusian Education Ministry, “Children in the Russian-language schools could study in Belarusian, but they should answer questions and take exams in Russian.”

Also, Russian-language schools aren’t provided with Belarusian textbooks. So, the school students have to buy them at their own expense. The administration of one of the municipal schools has confirmed the aforesaid.

“Belarusian school textbooks are supplied if there is a concrete order to open a Belarusian-language class. Therefore, those textbooks should be ordered separately,” a school administration official explained.