In Belarus Poles protest against amendments to education laws

1200 signatures under the protest against amending the Educational Code have been sent to the Education Ministry of Belarus.

The Union of Poles, which is not recognized by the official authorities of the country, believes that they could become a threat to the two schools with Polish language of instruction, which still work in Belarus in Hrodna and Vaukavysk. According to the project, the Education Ministry wants educational institutions of national minorities to teach such subjects as “The History of Belarus”, “The World History”, “Geography”, “Social Science”, to have only Russian or Belarusian language of instruction. At the same time, the list of those subjects could be expanded on application of local authorities, Gazeta Wyborcza writes.

- Only one thing is important for us here, so that it would not happen that only Polish and Polish literature lessons would have Polish language of instruction in our schools, - said the head of the organisation Myachyslau Yaskevich. He added that signatures are collected all over Belarus.

- We think the proposed changes to the Educational Code of Belarus violate our rights as representatives of the Polish ethnic minority, which are guaranteed to us both by the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, and the international legal acts, signed by Belarus, - the address reads.

The Union of Poles stresses that the 1200 signatures which have been sent already, are just a beginning, as they are still collected all over Belarus. about 750 children in our country study in the schools with the Polish language of instruction.

Photo: Agnieszka Sadowska/Agencja Gazeta