Minority Language Education in Slovakia
Introduction
Slovakia signed (2001), ratified (2001) and implemented (2002) the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. The Council of Europe's Committee of Experts has not yet written a report on Slovakia's compliance regarding the Charter. Slovakia has nevertheless already compiled an Initial Periodical Report (handed in September 2003). Slovakia signed the report for the following minority languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish, Ukrainian, Ruthenian, Hungarian and Romany. However, Slovakia distinguishes between the various minority languages in that some minority language communities have more rights than others.[1]
Slovakia also signed (1995), ratified (1995) and implemented (1998) the Framework Convention for National Minorities. The use of minority languages in Slovakian schools is not included in the “Act on National Minority Languages” of 1999. However, section 3 of the Education Act or School Law (Act No. 29/1984 Coll.) of the Slovakian Republic mentions the following:[2]
“Education is conducted in the state language. Citizens of the Czech, Hungarian, German, Polish and Ukrainian (Ruthenian) nationality have the right of education in their own language in the extent measured to the interest of their national development.”
Section 3a states the following:
“Education since the 5th year of primary school and on secondary schools can be conducted also in a foreign language with the consent of the Ministry of Education. In the schools or classes where instruction is realized in a foreign language, the subject Slovak language and literature shall be part of it.”
Learning the state language is obligatory in all primary and secondary schools.[3] In practice, this means that there are pre-primary schools, primary schools and secondary schools in Slovakia where pupils are taught in one of the national minority languages. There are schools where the minority language is part of the curriculum as a subject, while all other subjects are taught through Slovakian (in the case of Ukrainian). There are also schools where the medium of instruction is the minority language only when the language is given as a subject (with all the other subjects given in Slovakian). Finally, there are schools where the minority language is the medium of instruction (in the case of the Bulgarian minority in Slovakia[4]) and where the dominant language is a subject (taught through Slovakian). In this last case, some topics are, in practice, taught in Slovakian, with specific terminology also taught in Slovakian (this is how it works for the Hungarian minority in Slovakia).[5]
In other schools, both the minority language as well as the dominant language function partly as instruction languages (in case of the German and the Ukrainian minorities). In addition, there are primary schools which allow pupils to choose minority languages such as Croatian, Ukrainian and Ruthenian as a subject. All data concerning education through minority languages in Slovakia mentioned below,unless otherwise specified,are taken from the Initial Periodical Report presented by Slovakia in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.
Hungarian in Slovakian education
Hungarian is the main minority language taught in Slovakia. The Hungarian language minority is the largest minority language group in Slovakia; it comprises nearly 10 per cent of the population.
In the period 2001/2002, there were 277 pre-primary state schools with 557 classes and 9,479 pupils with Hungarian as the main language of instruction. In an additional 101 state schools for pre-primary education, both Hungarian and Slovakian are used as the instructive languages. In this case, the number of classes and pupils are unknown. In the school year 2001/2002, there were two small Hungarian language pre-primary church schools, with two classes and 32 pupils.
According to the report mentioned earlier, in the school year 2001/2002, there were 259 state funded primary schools in Slovakia with Hungarian as the instructive language. The total number of classes of these schools amounted to 2,114, with a total of 41,957 pupils. At an additional 29 schools, it was possible to receive education in both Hungarian and Slovak. No data are available concerning the number of classes or pupils in these schools. In 2001/2002, there were 12 Hungarian language primary schools connected with the church, with 64 classes and 1,023 pupils.
On secondary school level, there were 11 state funded Hungarian grammar schools , with 153 classes and 4046 students in the school year mentioned above. Eight grammar schools were in fact bilingual, with Slovak and Hungarian as the languages of instruction. Again, no data are available on the number of classes and pupils. In Slovakia, there are private and church-connected Hungarian language grammar schools, too; only one in the former category (7 classes; 170 students) and four in the latter category (18 classes; 459 students).
There are secondary vocational schools with Hungarian as an instructive language as well; six of them with Hungarian as the main instructive language and 14 with both Hungarian and Slovak as the medium of instruction. The number of classes and pupils of this latter category of schools is not known. These schools are state funded. However, there are also some private Hungarian schools for secondary vocational education as well: one with Hungarian as the main instructive language, and two with both Hungarian as Slovak as the languages of instruction (number of classes and pupils not known).
In Slovakia, in the school year 2001/2002, there were five Hungarian language secondary apprentice schools (56 classes; 1,151 students) and 22 Slovak-Hungarian apprentice schools (306 classes; 6,391 students). These types of schools may also be run as private schools. There are two Hungarian (33 classes; 683 students) and two Slovak-Hungarian secondary apprentice schools (13 classes; 186 students).
According to Vanco (2004), the Hungarian minority has been “disproportionately undereducated”. As mentioned earlier, the Hungarian language group constitutes about ten per cent of the population of Slovakia. Because of that fact, one would expect - according to Vanco - that also ten per cent of the university-educated citizens belong to the Hungarian minority. But Vanco states that this is “not nearly the case” in Slovakia.[6] The Slovak government seems to have noticed this as well and therefore declared in its 2002 National Programme of Development of Education and Instruction that it wanted to establish a university “for educating persons belonging to the Hungarian national minority” in order to eliminate “differences in the level and structure of education”. In 2004, the Faculties of Pedagogy and Reformed Theology of Selye János University started providing instruction in Hungarian.[7]
Ukrainian in Slovakian education
Although the Ukrainian minority is quite small (0.2 per cent of the population), some education through the Ukrainian language is available in Slovakia. There are 22 (state) pre-primary/nursery schools (34 classes; 534 pupils) where Ukrainian is the language of instruction. There are an additional three schools where both Slovakian and Ukrainian are the instructive languages. There are 29 state primary schools with 53 classes and 579 pupils with Ukrainian as the language of instruction. One primary state school is bilingual: Slovak-Ukrainian (number of classes and pupils unknown). There is one Ukrainian language (state) grammar school (six classes; 116 pupils). In 17 primary schools, attended by 526 pupils in grades 1 to 9, Ukrainian is taught as a subject.
Other minority languages in Slovakian education
The Bulgarian language group, with fewer than 1,200 native speakers in Slovakia, is very small indeed. Nevertheless, there is one private primary school with Bulgarian as the language of instruction (eight classes; 101 pupils).
In Slovakia, there is one bilingual Slovak-German pre-primary/nursery school with 22 pupils and there is a primary school (4 classes; 60 pupils) with German as the language of instruction. German is used as the language of instruction at the Department of German Studies of the Arts Faculty of the University of Nitra, the Pedagogic Faculty of the University of Nitra, the Department of German, Dutch and Scandinavian Studies and finally at the Department of German Language and Literature at the Comenius University in Bratislava,. In six Slovakian primary schools, attended by 1,052 pupils in grades 1 to 9, German is taught as a subject.
An agreement exists between Slovakia and Austria on trans-frontier co-operation. The agreement states that all contacts between the users of the Slovak and German languages are to be encouraged in both countries in the fields of culture, education, information, vocational and life-long training.[8]
In its Initial Periodical Report, Slovakia states that its government considers “the resolution of the Roma issue as a matter of priority and will continue to support specific development programmes and provide appropriate funding to ensure that the situation and integration of Roma into society improves”. To achieve this aim, the Slovak government wants to “continue to implement”, amongst others, “successful projects in the field of education”.[9]Romany is used as an auxiliary language of instruction only in state kindergartens and schools: for example in the Secondary School of Fine Arts in Košice (192 students) and in some preparatory grades of primary and special schools with a large number of Roma pupils.
According to the Second Report, submitted by Slovakia in accordance with the Framework Convention for National Minorities, a Polish school was opened in September 2003. There does not seem to be any education through the other minority languages listed in the table below, such as for example Czech (44,620 native speakers) and Ruthenian (24,201 native speakers).
These data are taken from the Initial Periodical Report of Slovakia, in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (2003).
Bibliography:
Committee of Experts (2003). Initial Periodical Report of Slovakia, in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. ECMRL (2003). Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Pan, C & B.S. Pfeil. 2002. Ethnos. Minderheitenrechte in Europa. Handbuch der europaïschen Volksgruppen. Vienna: Braumüller.
Slovak Republic. Second report submitted by the Slovak Republic pursuant to article 25, paragraph 1, of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (2005). Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Statistical Database. Education for Minorities in Slovakia, History in Brief and the Present Situation. http://www.fm.uniba.sk/projekty/cmis/english/sbd/dokumenty/mnesinoveskolstvo.htm, Comenius University Bratislava. (2002).
Vanco, I (2005). Towards bilingualism in multiethnic Slovakia: the case of the formal education/schooling of the Hungarian ethnic group. Not published yet.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1]For Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish and Romani, Slovakia undersigned the subparagraphs 1a (iii), b (iii), c (iii), d (iii), e (ii), f (ii), g, h, i of article 8 (on education). For Ruthenian and Ukrainian, Slovakia undersigned the subparagraphs 1a (ii), b (ii), c (ii), d (ii), e (ii), f (ii), g, h, i of article 8. For Hungarian, Slovakia undersigned the following subparagraphs: 1a (i), b(i), c (i), d (i), e (i), f (i) g, h, i.
[2]Initial Periodicalal Report of Slovakia, in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (2003), p. 16.
[3]Initial Periodicalal Report of Slovakia, in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (2003), p. 16 – 20.
[4]There is one private Bulgarian primary school and one private Bulgarian gymnasium (Pan, C & B.S. Pfeil. 2002. Ethnos. Minderheitenrechte in Europa. Handbuch der europaïschen Volksgruppen, s. 422).
[5]Statistical Database. Education for Minorities in Slovakia, History in Brief and the Present Situation. (http://www.fm.uniba.sk/projekty/cmis/english/sbd/dokumenty/mnesinoveskolstvo.htm, Comenius University Bratislava. 2002).
[6]Vanco, I (2004). Towards bilingualism in multi ethnic Slovakia: The case of the Formal education/schooling of the Hungarian ethnic group, p. 5.
[7]Second report submitted by the Slovak Republic pursuant to article 25, paragraph 1, of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (2005).
[8]Initial Periodical Report of Slovakia, in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (2003), p 51.
[9]Initial Periodical Report of Slovakia, in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (2003), p. 23/24.
Slovakia signed (2001), ratified (2001) and implemented (2002) the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. The Council of Europe's Committee of Experts has not yet written a report on Slovakia's compliance regarding the Charter. Slovakia has nevertheless already compiled an Initial Periodical Report (handed in September 2003). Slovakia signed the report for the following minority languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish, Ukrainian, Ruthenian, Hungarian and Romany. However, Slovakia distinguishes between the various minority languages in that some minority language communities have more rights than others.[1]
Slovakia also signed (1995), ratified (1995) and implemented (1998) the Framework Convention for National Minorities. The use of minority languages in Slovakian schools is not included in the “Act on National Minority Languages” of 1999. However, section 3 of the Education Act or School Law (Act No. 29/1984 Coll.) of the Slovakian Republic mentions the following:[2]
“Education is conducted in the state language. Citizens of the Czech, Hungarian, German, Polish and Ukrainian (Ruthenian) nationality have the right of education in their own language in the extent measured to the interest of their national development.”
Section 3a states the following:
“Education since the 5th year of primary school and on secondary schools can be conducted also in a foreign language with the consent of the Ministry of Education. In the schools or classes where instruction is realized in a foreign language, the subject Slovak language and literature shall be part of it.”
Learning the state language is obligatory in all primary and secondary schools.[3] In practice, this means that there are pre-primary schools, primary schools and secondary schools in Slovakia where pupils are taught in one of the national minority languages. There are schools where the minority language is part of the curriculum as a subject, while all other subjects are taught through Slovakian (in the case of Ukrainian). There are also schools where the medium of instruction is the minority language only when the language is given as a subject (with all the other subjects given in Slovakian). Finally, there are schools where the minority language is the medium of instruction (in the case of the Bulgarian minority in Slovakia[4]) and where the dominant language is a subject (taught through Slovakian). In this last case, some topics are, in practice, taught in Slovakian, with specific terminology also taught in Slovakian (this is how it works for the Hungarian minority in Slovakia).[5]
In other schools, both the minority language as well as the dominant language function partly as instruction languages (in case of the German and the Ukrainian minorities). In addition, there are primary schools which allow pupils to choose minority languages such as Croatian, Ukrainian and Ruthenian as a subject. All data concerning education through minority languages in Slovakia mentioned below,unless otherwise specified,are taken from the Initial Periodical Report presented by Slovakia in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.
Hungarian in Slovakian education
Hungarian is the main minority language taught in Slovakia. The Hungarian language minority is the largest minority language group in Slovakia; it comprises nearly 10 per cent of the population.
In the period 2001/2002, there were 277 pre-primary state schools with 557 classes and 9,479 pupils with Hungarian as the main language of instruction. In an additional 101 state schools for pre-primary education, both Hungarian and Slovakian are used as the instructive languages. In this case, the number of classes and pupils are unknown. In the school year 2001/2002, there were two small Hungarian language pre-primary church schools, with two classes and 32 pupils.
According to the report mentioned earlier, in the school year 2001/2002, there were 259 state funded primary schools in Slovakia with Hungarian as the instructive language. The total number of classes of these schools amounted to 2,114, with a total of 41,957 pupils. At an additional 29 schools, it was possible to receive education in both Hungarian and Slovak. No data are available concerning the number of classes or pupils in these schools. In 2001/2002, there were 12 Hungarian language primary schools connected with the church, with 64 classes and 1,023 pupils.
On secondary school level, there were 11 state funded Hungarian grammar schools , with 153 classes and 4046 students in the school year mentioned above. Eight grammar schools were in fact bilingual, with Slovak and Hungarian as the languages of instruction. Again, no data are available on the number of classes and pupils. In Slovakia, there are private and church-connected Hungarian language grammar schools, too; only one in the former category (7 classes; 170 students) and four in the latter category (18 classes; 459 students).
There are secondary vocational schools with Hungarian as an instructive language as well; six of them with Hungarian as the main instructive language and 14 with both Hungarian and Slovak as the medium of instruction. The number of classes and pupils of this latter category of schools is not known. These schools are state funded. However, there are also some private Hungarian schools for secondary vocational education as well: one with Hungarian as the main instructive language, and two with both Hungarian as Slovak as the languages of instruction (number of classes and pupils not known).
In Slovakia, in the school year 2001/2002, there were five Hungarian language secondary apprentice schools (56 classes; 1,151 students) and 22 Slovak-Hungarian apprentice schools (306 classes; 6,391 students). These types of schools may also be run as private schools. There are two Hungarian (33 classes; 683 students) and two Slovak-Hungarian secondary apprentice schools (13 classes; 186 students).
According to Vanco (2004), the Hungarian minority has been “disproportionately undereducated”. As mentioned earlier, the Hungarian language group constitutes about ten per cent of the population of Slovakia. Because of that fact, one would expect - according to Vanco - that also ten per cent of the university-educated citizens belong to the Hungarian minority. But Vanco states that this is “not nearly the case” in Slovakia.[6] The Slovak government seems to have noticed this as well and therefore declared in its 2002 National Programme of Development of Education and Instruction that it wanted to establish a university “for educating persons belonging to the Hungarian national minority” in order to eliminate “differences in the level and structure of education”. In 2004, the Faculties of Pedagogy and Reformed Theology of Selye János University started providing instruction in Hungarian.[7]
Ukrainian in Slovakian education
Although the Ukrainian minority is quite small (0.2 per cent of the population), some education through the Ukrainian language is available in Slovakia. There are 22 (state) pre-primary/nursery schools (34 classes; 534 pupils) where Ukrainian is the language of instruction. There are an additional three schools where both Slovakian and Ukrainian are the instructive languages. There are 29 state primary schools with 53 classes and 579 pupils with Ukrainian as the language of instruction. One primary state school is bilingual: Slovak-Ukrainian (number of classes and pupils unknown). There is one Ukrainian language (state) grammar school (six classes; 116 pupils). In 17 primary schools, attended by 526 pupils in grades 1 to 9, Ukrainian is taught as a subject.
Other minority languages in Slovakian education
The Bulgarian language group, with fewer than 1,200 native speakers in Slovakia, is very small indeed. Nevertheless, there is one private primary school with Bulgarian as the language of instruction (eight classes; 101 pupils).
In Slovakia, there is one bilingual Slovak-German pre-primary/nursery school with 22 pupils and there is a primary school (4 classes; 60 pupils) with German as the language of instruction. German is used as the language of instruction at the Department of German Studies of the Arts Faculty of the University of Nitra, the Pedagogic Faculty of the University of Nitra, the Department of German, Dutch and Scandinavian Studies and finally at the Department of German Language and Literature at the Comenius University in Bratislava,. In six Slovakian primary schools, attended by 1,052 pupils in grades 1 to 9, German is taught as a subject.
An agreement exists between Slovakia and Austria on trans-frontier co-operation. The agreement states that all contacts between the users of the Slovak and German languages are to be encouraged in both countries in the fields of culture, education, information, vocational and life-long training.[8]
In its Initial Periodical Report, Slovakia states that its government considers “the resolution of the Roma issue as a matter of priority and will continue to support specific development programmes and provide appropriate funding to ensure that the situation and integration of Roma into society improves”. To achieve this aim, the Slovak government wants to “continue to implement”, amongst others, “successful projects in the field of education”.[9]Romany is used as an auxiliary language of instruction only in state kindergartens and schools: for example in the Secondary School of Fine Arts in Košice (192 students) and in some preparatory grades of primary and special schools with a large number of Roma pupils.
According to the Second Report, submitted by Slovakia in accordance with the Framework Convention for National Minorities, a Polish school was opened in September 2003. There does not seem to be any education through the other minority languages listed in the table below, such as for example Czech (44,620 native speakers) and Ruthenian (24,201 native speakers).
| Minority languages and dominant language in Slovakia (2001) | ||
|
Languages
|
number
|
percentage
|
|
Slovak
Hungarian
Romany
Czech
Ruthenian
Ukrainian
German
Moravian
Croatian
Polish
Bulgarian
Jewish
Other
Unidentified
|
4,614,854
520,528
89,920
44,620
24,201
10,814
5,405
2,348
890
2,602
1,179
218
5,350
56,526
|
85.8 %
9.7 %
1.7 %
0.8 %
0.4 %
0.2 %
0.1 %
0.1 %
0.02 %
0.04 %
0.02 %
0.004 %
0.1 %
1.1 %
|
|
|
5,379,455
|
100 %
|
These data are taken from the Initial Periodical Report of Slovakia, in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (2003).
Bibliography:
Committee of Experts (2003). Initial Periodical Report of Slovakia, in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. ECMRL (2003). Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Pan, C & B.S. Pfeil. 2002. Ethnos. Minderheitenrechte in Europa. Handbuch der europaïschen Volksgruppen. Vienna: Braumüller.
Slovak Republic. Second report submitted by the Slovak Republic pursuant to article 25, paragraph 1, of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (2005). Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Statistical Database. Education for Minorities in Slovakia, History in Brief and the Present Situation. http://www.fm.uniba.sk/projekty/cmis/english/sbd/dokumenty/mnesinoveskolstvo.htm, Comenius University Bratislava. (2002).
Vanco, I (2005). Towards bilingualism in multiethnic Slovakia: the case of the formal education/schooling of the Hungarian ethnic group. Not published yet.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1]For Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish and Romani, Slovakia undersigned the subparagraphs 1a (iii), b (iii), c (iii), d (iii), e (ii), f (ii), g, h, i of article 8 (on education). For Ruthenian and Ukrainian, Slovakia undersigned the subparagraphs 1a (ii), b (ii), c (ii), d (ii), e (ii), f (ii), g, h, i of article 8. For Hungarian, Slovakia undersigned the following subparagraphs: 1a (i), b(i), c (i), d (i), e (i), f (i) g, h, i.
[2]Initial Periodicalal Report of Slovakia, in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (2003), p. 16.
[3]Initial Periodicalal Report of Slovakia, in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (2003), p. 16 – 20.
[4]There is one private Bulgarian primary school and one private Bulgarian gymnasium (Pan, C & B.S. Pfeil. 2002. Ethnos. Minderheitenrechte in Europa. Handbuch der europaïschen Volksgruppen, s. 422).
[5]Statistical Database. Education for Minorities in Slovakia, History in Brief and the Present Situation. (http://www.fm.uniba.sk/projekty/cmis/english/sbd/dokumenty/mnesinoveskolstvo.htm, Comenius University Bratislava. 2002).
[6]Vanco, I (2004). Towards bilingualism in multi ethnic Slovakia: The case of the Formal education/schooling of the Hungarian ethnic group, p. 5.
[7]Second report submitted by the Slovak Republic pursuant to article 25, paragraph 1, of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (2005).
[8]Initial Periodical Report of Slovakia, in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (2003), p 51.
[9]Initial Periodical Report of Slovakia, in the framework of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (2003), p. 23/24.