“In the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, the occupying state – the Russian Federation – pursues a policy of Russification and militarization of the local population, especially among children and youth. A significant part of resources and activities is directed to the relevant activities, especially in higher education, secondary and preschool institutions. Institutions such as the Krympatriotsentr and movements such as Yunarmiya and DOSAAF are actively assisting educational institutions in conducting military-patriotic education activities”, – this was emphasized during the presentation of the review on restricting the functioning of the state language in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine by the Deputy Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Tamila Tasheva. Review prepared by the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language in cooperation with the Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the National Council of Ukrainians of Crimea, the volunteer movement “Space of Freedom”.

Tamila Tasheva said during the presentation that “the policy of Russification, militarization and military-patriotic education in the spirit of Russian patriotism cannot be combined with free access to information and subjects aimed at preservation the national identity, in particular, mother-tongue based schooling (Ukrainian or the Crimean Tatar language) and the native language learning”. 

The Mission systematically monitors messages related to the occupation administration’s ability to provide the learning process in Ukrainian and the Crimean Tatar languages. According to the so-called “Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of the Republic of Crimea” during the 2020-2021 academic year, 218.974 students of all forms studied in general education organizations of the so-called “Republic of Crimea”. Of these, they received education: in the Crimean Tatar language – 6700 students (3%); in Ukrainian – 214 students (0.1%).

These figures are fabricated. Thus, the Crimean human rights group’s monitoring in March 2019, found that in the only school on the peninsula, which is positioned by the occupiers, as Ukrainian-language school (“School №20” in Feodosia), but teaching is actually in Russian. Ukrainian is taught only as a separate subject in some classes. This means that the figure of 214 students studying in Ukrainian is overstated.

A similar situation with teaching in the Crimean Tatar language. During the monitoring of the Crimean Human Rights Group, it was found that in all visited schools, which are presented as Crimean Tatar-language schools (“School №3” in Sudak, “Zuya’s Secondary School №2” and “School №42 in Simferopol”), in fact the education is partly in Crimean Tatar language and partly in Russian. In “Zuya`s Secondary School № 2” the Crimean Tatar language is taught as a separate subject until the 9th grade. The name of the institution on the sign at the school entrance is given only in Russian.

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