27 July 2018, 08:05
Residents of Dagestan scarify law on native languages
Russian State Duma MPs adopted the law on the native (national) languages on July 25. The new order of studying them will encourage some of the parents to refuse from their children's studying the mother tongue in favour of the Russian language; while Russian authorities will continue pursuing their policy of assimilating minor nations, residents of Dagestan have stated.
The new law suggests the introduction of the Russian language into the list of native languages of Russia's nations, so that the pupils' parents in national republics could choose Russian as mother tongue for their children.
On June 19, the State Duma adopted amendments to the Law "On Education", presupposing the "voluntary" study of national languages of the republics of the Russian Federation. It caused outrage of residents of these republics, who saw it as a threat to the languages and cultures of their nations. 87 linguists from European universities called on the State Duma to reject the bill.
The legislators assert that the law is of no threat to native languages of Russia's minor nations, but most of the residents of Dagestan interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" are against the above amendments.
Aimanat Nurdueva is sure that the native language should be mandatory for studying on equal terms with English and Russian,
"We lost our national identity with the advent of the Soviet power; if this trend persists, we'll lose our history, traditions and customs," she said.
Nazhmudin Akhmedov, a resident of Makhachkala, fears that in the future the federal centre will adopt even more stringent laws towards the assimilation of minor nations.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 26, 2018 at 00:35 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Ilyas Kapiev Source: CK correspondent
