Residents of Adygea demand to intensify teaching of mother tongue to children

More than 100 residents of Adygea have sent a letter to the head of the republic, asking him to help in providing proper teaching of the native language in kindergartens and schools. The letter characterizes the situation with the mother tongue in auls (villages) of Adygea as critical.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 24, 2018, the State Duma approved the bill on national languages and left the compulsory study of native languages to the choice of pupils' parents.

“We hereby ask you to help our children in studying their mother tongue and the 'Adyge Khabze' (rules of the Adyg ethics, – note of the "Caucasian Knot") in kindergartens and schools. The 'Adyge Khabze', as a subject, is not included in the compulsory school curriculum; it would be good to return this subject there, since education in the spirit of 'Adyge Khabze' and observance of beautiful folk customs will undoubtedly benefit our children and the whole society," says the letter, the text of which is available at the "Caucasian Knot".

The authors note that even in auls, where children used to communicate in their native language, Russian becomes their intercourse language.

"If we fail to take drastic measures, in the future the native language will die out. We urge you to help preserving our native language, which is under threat of extinction," the authors of the appeal, addressed to the republic's leader, write.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 13, 2019 at 08:44 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.