BELARUSIAN LANGUAGE IN BELARUS: WHAT THE STATE EDUCATION SYSTEM DOES TO SAFEGUARD IT

Abstract

The Belarusian language is one of the two official languages of the Republic of Belarus (together with Russian). Although Belarusian is a highly developed written language, the status of Belarusian in the “Atlas of the World Languages in Danger, 2010” issued by UNESCO is marked as vulnerable. There exists an impressive discrepancy between the high percentage of Belarusians considering Belarusian to be their ‘mother tongue’ (53,2% according to the polls of 2009) and the low percentage of Belarusians actually using Belarusian in their everyday life and, what is more important, in the upbringing of their children. Only 11.9% of Belarusians speak Belarusian at home. The statistics provided in 2015 by the Ministry of Education states that in the 2014/2015 academic year only 10% of the kindergarteners were educated in Belarusian and 4% attended bilingual preschool institutions. Approximately 14% of the school-age children attend Belarusian-medium schools. The Belarusian language in vocational schools and in tertiary education establishments is neglected: less than 1% of university students are educated through the medium of Belarusian. The research is aimed at detecting to which extent Belarusian is protected. The study is focused on the methods which educational establishments use in language management and in the promotion of language use.