(ANSA) - ROME - Ukraine could step back. President Petro
Poroshenko could revise the new Education Act - approved by
Parliament on September 5th - which envisages only
Ukrainian-language teaching in schools starting in 2020, Russian
press agency Tass reported, cited by Bulgarian media.
According to local media, the head of the Ukrainian state may
request the introduction of some amendments. In recent days, in
many European countries, the law was criticised because it would
harm language minorities. Even the Council of Europe and the EU
Commission intervened. The current law, however, allows children
belonging to linguistic minorities to attend the entire course
of study in their mother tongue.
The reaction of Romania's government was harsh; President Klaus
Iohannis canceled the his state visit to Ukraine scheduled for
next month, while Hungary said it would block any measure
favouring Ukraine's EU integration. Protests took place in
Moldova, Bulgaria, Poland and Greece. Russia, too, bulgarian
news site novinite.com reported, urged the international
community to intervene.
According to data issued by Ukrainian Ministry of Education,
there are 735 state schools in the area, providing teaching for
the approximately 400,000 pupils belonging to linguistic
minorities. Ukraine asked the Council of Europe to assess the
new law. (ANSA).
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