MINELRES: Fwd: RFE/RL: Center Party Stumps for Estonian Language
MINELRES moderator
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Wed Feb 12 08:21:00 2003
Original sender: Snjezana Bokulic <[email protected]>
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 26, Part II, 10 February 2003
CENTER PARTY STUMPS FOR ESTONIAN LANGUAGE. Center Party public-relations
chief Evelyn Sepp released a statement on 8 February to ward off
suggestions ahead of the 2 March elections that the party is attempting
to boost the status of the Russian language at the expense of Estonian,
BNS reported. "The official language in Estonia is Estonian; it is and
will remain the official and only state language. For its protection and
development, the teaching of the native language in Estonian schools
must be substantially increased," the statement said. She pushed for
raising the quality of instruction in Estonian, in general, and at
preschool institutions and schools, in particular, to improve the
integration of Estonian residents who are not ethnic Estonians and to
create the prerequisites for a smooth transfer to Estonian-language
high-school education. The statement seemingly was prompted by the
recent proposal of a bill by two Russian-speaking Center Party
lawmakers, Mikhail Stalnukhin and Vladimir Velman, to clarify the legal
status of the cultural autonomy of ethnic minorities. SG
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