Human rights groups: Ukrainian language education has almost disappeared in the Crimea
The Coordinator of the Crimean Human Rights Group, Olga Skrypnyk, stated that only one of seven Ukrainian schools is still working in annexed Crimea, Krym.Realii reported. According to Skrypnyk, Russia has manipulated the situation such that parents no longer wish classes to be taught in the Ukrainian language.
“For example, there was a case in Yalta Ukrainian High School, when an employee of the City Education Department urged and intimidated parents to reject the use of the Ukrainian language in school at a parent-teacher meeting in 2014. There are a lot of such examples, when school masters afraid of losing their jobs close Ukrainian classes or transform them into Russian ones. That is why the situation with the Ukrainian language is the most complex; there is little education in Ukrainian,” Olga Skrypnyk said.
According to Skrypnyk, there are still schools with education in the Crimean Tatar language on the peninsula. However, they are often used for political purposes. Earlier, Crimean occupation authorities claimed that Russians’ declining interest in holidays in Crimea was actually a targeted media strategy.