The Ministry of Education and Culture and the Hungarian community will jointly work on the development of state standards and standard programs and plan further work on the draft law "On General Secondary Education". This was discussed during the meeting of the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Liliya Hrynevych, with representatives of the Hungarian community living in Ukraine, today, June 5, 2018, in the premises of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Ukraine.
"I am very glad that today we were able to get together and constructively talk about all the necessary solutions for our children. This demonstrates that we are still able to cooperate productively and reach joint decisions, which are necessary to ensure the rights of our children and the development of our entire state and national communities in particular," said Liliya Hrynevych.
The main emphasis of the negotiations was on clarifying the positions regarding the implementation plan of Article 7 of the Law "On Education", improving methods for learning the Ukrainian language, developing new standards and textbooks, which is expected to be done within the transitional period before the full implementation of the language article.
"The Government has now submitted to the Verkhovna Rada draft Law 8046, which provides for the extension of the transition period until 2023. We agree that this extension is correct from a pedagogical point of view, but it is also important for us what exactly will happen during this transition period and how well it will be organized," said People's Deputy Vasyl Brenzovych, who is a representative of the Hungarian community in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Thus, during the meeting, the issue of printing qualitatively new textbooks was raised.
"There are more specialists in Hungary who can work on textbooks in Hungarian. There are already developed materials that can be used to teach our children. And we would like to be able to use such high-quality materials in schools where children of the Hungarian community study. Unfortunately, those books that are printed at state expense today are not of high quality," added Ildyka Oros, head of the Transcarpathian Hungarian-Language Pedagogical Society.
Minister Liliya Hrynevych replied that it is important for the Ministry of Education and Culture that all textbooks that children study in Ukrainian schools should be adapted to the realities of the state.
"The context in which information is presented in the textbook is very important. If there is an alphabet in which children learn letters and read only about the Hungarian national anthem, the flag and cities - it does not suit us. The textbook must be adapted, along with teaching, tell the child about the state in which he lives. I would like to note that we already have good experience in publishing textbooks, when a foreign publishing house cooperates with a Ukrainian one and a good, high-quality textbook is published. This is how public funds are spent correctly and for the benefit of children, and we are very interested in this format of cooperation. We will be very grateful if you contribute to the establishment of such connections and to the development of textbooks for the education of children from the Hungarian community of Ukraine," Liliya Hrynevych explained.
The parties also agreed that representatives of the Hungarian community will be part of the working groups involved in the development of state standards and typical educational programs. Community representatives also submitted proposals regarding the draft of the language article of the future Law "On General Secondary Education", which should specify the way of implementation of the language article of the Law "On Education".
We remind you that until recently the Hungarian community refused to consult on the implementation of the language article of the Law "On Education", motivating it by the fact that the Constitutional Court of Ukraine must first consider the relevant submission and confirm the constitutionality of Article 7.
