Those who felt Ukrainian wanted Ukrainian education in Crimea, - Olga Sharagina
In the series of materials about the formation/development of Ukrainian-language education in Crimea, "Voice of Crimea" has already talked with the director of the only Ukrainian-language school in Yevpatoria school in Yevpatoriya, with a pupil of Yalta school and with a Crimeanwho lives in the occupied capital of Crimea.
Today we are talking to a former teacher of Ukrainian language and and literature of the Yalta school, as well as and former graduate student of the Crimean Humanities University Olga Sharagina, who is now the director of the Educational and Research Institute of Philology and Journalism at the Tauride National University, the only re-authorized Crimean university.
Ms
a fairly short period of time, but you managed to work as a teacher and enter
to a postgraduate program. That is, you were in the middle of the educational process. What was the situation of the
of the Ukrainian language in the educational field of Yalta? Describe the overall picture...
You
know, Yalta is a very native place for me. Why? Because I started my teaching career
i started my teaching career there. When I graduated from Ternopil National
pedagogical University, I gave birth to my first child,
then my second, and I didn't really work. And now, when my youngest daughter was two
years old, I came out of maternity leave and, in fact, family circumstances were such that
that I moved from Kyiv region to Yalta with my children.
Well,
i am, in fact, a Ukrainian-speaking person, patriotic, pro-Ukrainian, I come to
russian-speaking city of Yalta. I come to the education department because I didn't know where I was supposed to
to look for this job. There I explained that I was a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature
and I needed a job. What can you recommend? At that time in Yalta there was
a woman named Nadezhda Adamovna, unfortunately, I don't remember her last name, she taught
ukrainian language and was actually, so to speak, an informal curator of all
ukrainian language teachers. A representative from the education department recommended
to contact her. The meeting with Nadiia Adamivna ended with me
employment in a Russian-speaking school where Ukrainian was taught as one of the
of the specialized subjects. Director of Yalta secondary school No. 7 Sharudylo
Ivan Oleksandrovych Sharudylo, if I'm not mistaken, was originally from Ivano-Frankivsk region, and after hearing
ukrainian language from me, invited me for an interview.
What impressed/surprised you as a person
who came from the mainland to the peninsula in the context of the presence of the Ukrainian language in the
educational process, in the team, etc.?
At
my first methodological association in Simferopol, which was held for
for Ukrainian language teachers, no one really spoke Ukrainian except me. І
i was very impressed by this. How can you discuss some aspects of teaching, curricula, organizational
plans, organizational and educational activities during the school year and still
communicate in Russian? I had the courage to take the floor and gave my own
suggestions on some working issues and spoke in Ukrainian. В
the audience immediately fell silent, and everyone fixed their eyes on me. In their
i could read a question in their eyes: "Who is this, what is going on?" For a moment, it was 2012
My
work at school also started in an interesting way: since I was a Ukrainian-speaking teacher,
i was assigned all grades from 5 to 11, where I had to teach Ukrainian
language and literature. As I said, the school was Russian-speaking, but
the psychological atmosphere was favorable for me. Teachers asked me not to speak Russian because they
speak Russian because they liked the way I spoke Ukrainian. That's why
in the teacher's lounge and with students, I spoke my native language.
I
was a class teacher in the fifth grade and I was worried about how
i would communicate with the parents of the students? That is, the fact that I lived in a Russian-speaking city,
constantly left its mark on the decision to communicate in Ukrainian.
I asked myself questions: "Maybe I'm doing something wrong by speaking Ukrainian,
"Well, this is a Russian-speaking region, these are children, I'm a class teacher, maybe I
i should speak Russian with them?" However, what pleasantly surprised me was that my parents
did not object to my speaking the state language. At the same time, the children in my class
were different: Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars, and ethnic Russians. And all of this
was very inspiring and gave me such confidence. During this period, I experienced
a tremendous professional growth in my life, because I was able to work professionally with students,
and the children were very smart. They quickly picked up the Ukrainian language, even though it was
a Russian-speaking school.
You
know, I am now working with students in Kyiv, I also worked in a school in
Boryspil district, unfortunately, students often speak Russian in Ukrainian language and
and literature classes often speak Russian. This is also strange for me, because my students in
Yalta, my students spoke Ukrainian in Ukrainian classes, regardless of their nationality.
And it was very pleasant, because we met each other, there was contact.
You had small children who went
to a kindergarten in Yalta. How was the situation with the Ukrainian language in the
in the educational process of children?
The kindergarten
was also Russian-speaking, there was no other alternative for children. My children
spoke Ukrainian, watched Ukrainian cartoons, we communicated with them in Ukrainian.
In the kindergarten, they heard how I communicated with my children, I spoke to them in
in Ukrainian. The administration of the kindergarten met me halfway and made sure that no matter what
holiday, a Ukrainian song and Ukrainian poems were sung. Although I did not ask them to do so
i didn't ask them to do this separately. Do you know, it even sounds kind of wild, how can you ask to be Ukrainian in
Ukraine to ask to be Ukrainian? What else was Ukrainian? In kindergartens and schools
all the Ukrainian symbols were present: the flag, the anthem, the trident. Photo of a school principal with a student and a
with a student and a flag In your Crimean biography, there was
higher education was also present in your Crimean biography... Yes,
i was a graduate student at the Crimean Humanities University. There I
met Svitlana Kocherha (Doctor of Philology, Head of the
of the Department of Ukrainian Philology and Teaching Methods at the Crimean Humanities University,
director of the Lesya Ukrainka Museum in Yalta - ed.) She was very happy that we found
contact. Why? Was it important to her?
was it important to her?
Because
school, the Lesya Ukrainka Museum, and the university - it was a very strong interaction, we did a lot of interesting things with
students did a lot of interesting things, Ukrainian things. We put up nativity scenes,
we used to sing carols and sing Christmas carols. This close cooperation gave me more opportunities to
to communicate with my students outside of the school program and outside of school. I told them,
probably the first time I told them what the Holodomor was, we went to the Lesia Ukrainka Museum,
Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi, to the grave of Stepan Rudanskyi - all of this really
it shook the children very much. The students asked a lot of questions because it was all new to them. Neither from the students,
or their parents, I did not feel any aggression towards the Ukrainian events I organized,
or the stories about the history of our country. Together we organized a festival of
embroidery festival on the Yalta seafront. I involved the whole school in this event. Students from the
university and kindergarten children also wore embroidered shirts
Museum of Lesia Ukrainka If
there was a policy of Ukrainization, perhaps a gentle Ukrainization, or at least there was
political will for the Ukrainian language to have some support, I think the population
would have made contact with mainland Ukraine. You see,
who wants to see aggression, finds aggression. I had cooperation,
thanks to which I dragged Ukraine to Crimea as much as I could. At
university also had classes in Ukrainian for Ukrainian speakers, because I was still in
i was still in graduate school and there were lectures and seminars. The English language, not
and non-professional disciplines were taught in Russian. The contingent was also different: both
ukrainian-speaking and Russian-speaking. If I spoke Ukrainian, I was communicated with in Ukrainian
communicated with me in Ukrainian as well
How did the formation of
ukrainian-language education at the Crimean Humanities University? That is, at the level of
administration, at the level of perception of other departments and faculties? How was the
the Department of Ukrainian Philology?
Well,
there was assistance at the level of the administration, for sure. The former rector
Oleksandr Hluzman contributed to the development of the Department of Ukrainian Philology and
and teaching methods. How did he contribute? Perhaps the fact that the teachers were from mainland Ukraine, so he cared about
mainland Ukraine, which means that he made sure that such disciplines were taught
by Ukrainian-speaking specialists. The university developed, its branches were in different regions of the
of the peninsula, institutes were opened. The university, in my opinion,
administration was somewhat pro-Ukrainian, as it did not deny the organization of
various events and encouraged people from Ukraine. Students who were studying Ukrainian philology were quite proactive
ukrainian philology were quite proactive, they proposed interesting events,
and participated in them. They also organized pro-Ukrainian events when the occupation and
occupation, the pseudo-referendum - these were students from our department
You know,
what was very offensive was that pseudo-referendum. You realize that all my colleagues,
whom I know, all my graduate students who studied with me, colleagues from the Russian-language
school, no one went to this referendum. We were afraid to take to the streets because there were
tanks and heavily armed soldiers were walking around. Who went to that
pseudo-referendum?
Was there a demand for Ukrainian-language education in your opinion?
ukrainian-language education in Yalta?
No.
I didn't see any demand, well, if we talk about demand as a need of people. It was not an
an urgent need. It was more on the level of tolerant perception. Less or more
tolerant perception. The fact that there is another nationality, another culture, and it
can even dictate something to "great Russia" in a legal sense. To say that
yalta residents really wanted the presence of the Ukrainian-speaking contingent, they wanted it,
rebelled, no. Ukrainian
education was wanted by those who actually felt like Ukrainians. So they were looking for
ukrainian-language educational institutions for their children, but there was only one such
school in Yalta
When creating Ukrainian-language schools and
classes in Crimea, there has always been an urgent need for teachers who can teach such
subjects such as history, math, and chemistry in Ukrainian. The Crimean
humanities University could fill this need? Has the possibility of training
the possibility of training subject specialists to teach in Ukrainian-language schools?
Did teachers at other faculties and departments teach their subjects in the state language?
in the state language?
Administrative
there were definitely no administrative steps, only the desire of individual teachers. I know for sure that
philosophy was taught in broken Ukrainian, but at least she tried to do it
to do so. And it was solely her initiative, her desire. There were a few
people who tried to teach their discipline in Ukrainian. But
the administration did not position this as mandatory, there was no requirement to teach
in the state language. It was left out of the officialdom. That is, the desire was not denied, but
it was not supported in any way... As for
other departments, yes
And the actual desire of several
teachers of other departments to read subjects in the state language did not pose any threat to
russian-speaking university did not pose any threat... The desire
of these teachers to teach in the state language was their legal right, which
in no way infringed on the rights of others. And if there was a statement about
threat to Russian speakers, it was a manipulation aimed at stirring up
the language issue. Such provocateurs were ethnic "Russians" who constantly
constantly ridiculing Ukrainian culture. I remember one of my teachers laughing a lot
at the Cossacks, saying that they deliberately sewed such wide pants and trousers to
to steal and hide more. And their "hakhlyatsky" language was only understandable to them
was understandable only to them. That's why "the great Catherine scarred this brat." What processes took place, in particular at the
university after the "referendum"? What happened to the Department of Ukrainian Language and
literature in 2014?
After
after this "referendum," the rector of the university called us together. I was impressed that he gathered us
i was amazed that he gathered us very quickly and I did not think that quite important decisions were made so quickly.
The decisions were that we would disband the Department of Ukrainian Philology and
teaching methods to the Department of Slavic Languages, the topics of postgraduate studies
programs will be re-approved as psychology or Russian language and literature-everything
is being disbanded, Ukrainian philology is being closed. My
colleagues, some graduate students left for mainland Ukraine, like me, and some
re-registered in psychology, Russian language and literature. That is, as Oleksandr Gluzman promised us
promised us, the Department of Ukrainian Philology and Teaching Methods
ceased to exist, it became known as the Department of Slavic Languages. He
also advised those students who did not agree to stay at the newly created
department, to call higher education institutions (ed.) in mainland Ukraine
Ukraine and ask to be taken there
I
i remember sitting on the Yalta embankment and dialing these phone numbers to find out
to find out which of the Kyiv universities would be able to take me on a budget to a postgraduate
to a graduate program with a transfer. It was around March-April 2014. And what happened during this period with the
with the Ukrainian language in schools, including the one where you taught?
You
know, it was generally said that no one would remove the Ukrainian language from the educational process
from the educational process. There were such political messages that no one "infringes" on it in Crimea, it will continue to be taught
it will continue to be taught. But
in reality, everything looked different. Ivan Sharudylo, the principal of the school where I taught, had a heart attack. The man was simply brought to
to such a state by opening criminal proceedings, accusing him of allegedly
he had allegedly rented out the school premises to some tourists, and he was disgracefully fired
He
could not accept what was happening around him. We had Ukrainian symbols hanging in our Russian-speaking
ukrainian symbols were hanging in our Russian-speaking school until June, and the principal received constant threats for that,
which led to his heart attack. Obviously, the person did not cooperate, so
paid with his health and job
Before
before he was fired, he told the Ukrainian language teachers that if we want to work here in the future, we have to switch
here in the future, we should switch to Russian or psychology. After all
ukrainian is only an optional language. And in the end, the Ukrainian language
remained in this school as an optional subject? By the beginning of the new school year
- 2014\2015 - I no longer worked at the school and left Crimea. Asking about it with
i was afraid to ask my former colleagues about this in a phone conversation or in correspondence, so as not to put them in danger
You talked about how there was a fairly
calm, equal attitude to the Department of Ukrainian Language and Teaching Methods,
both on the part of the administration and on the part of teachers from other departments.
Has anything changed in the relationship, in the attitude during the active phase of the occupation? Yes,
it has changed. The administration of our department left the peninsula. In particular,
the head of the department, Svitlana Kocherha, three teachers and some graduate students. А
those who remained, they re-registered for another specialty and continued to
work and study
As for
the attitude of colleagues from other departments, everyone was just silent. No one said anything,
no one expressed any thoughts or hints. It was just a balanced
silence, which was observed at all levels - from the university administration to
The silence
was not only at work, it was in the store, in public transport, everywhere. You were a classroom teacher. Was there
was there any communication during this period with the parents of your students, in particular when they
already knew that you were leaving?
No
- it was complete silence, an atmosphere of fear. Although I had a very good
relationships with both parents and children. Я
was young, proactive, and organized a number of interesting events with them: theme
evenings, discos, excursions. I communicated a little with some of the students after I left Crimea
after I left Crimea, they found me on social media. But none of my parents
me neither then nor later. Was there any resistance in education to the occupation?
education about the occupation?
The only
resistance in education that was there when it all started was a meeting at the monument to
Taras Shevchenko and a walk along the embankment. The participants of this action were teachers,
students, and postgraduate students of the Department of Ukrainian Language and Teaching Methods. We were
not very many of us, but among those who were there, someone was beaten up pretty badly, and after that
no one came out to any of the announced actions again. You said that you always spoke Ukrainian with your children in any
always spoke Ukrainian with your children in any place. Has anything changed for you in
in 2014?
Morally
it was very difficult for me. I could no longer speak Ukrainian fluently with my children
language in society. When I walked the streets with them, speaking Ukrainian, I had the
the impression that someone was constantly following me. People would look at me and my children strangely
when they heard me speaking
And
there was also an incident. I took my children to the mainland in
march to the mainland. We were going to Simferopol by train, and I realized that we were
were being persecuted. When we were traveling in a bus from Yalta to Simferopol, I asked my
children to play in silence so that no one would hear them speaking Ukrainian. But
they are children, it's a long road, of course they were speaking, and of course in Ukrainian, because
it is natural for them. I noticed that I was being followed. My aunt helped me take the children out
my aunt helped me take my children out, and I saw her sitting there, scared, and the bus was so quiet,
that my children's whispers sounded like thunder. Then my aunt conditionally showed me that I should
to take my daughter, and she took her son, and we went in different
and then quickly go to the store to hide among the people. We managed to do it
because the guys who were chasing us lost us in the crowd,
lost us in the crowd
Then
we quickly jumped on the train. Everyone in the carriage until we entered mainland Ukraine
Ukraine sat quietly, no one spoke to anyone, because no one knew who was sitting next to you
sitting next to you - people were shackled by fear. I
exhaled only after I took my children out. I had to come back because
i had to solve problems with documents and registration. But I didn't speak Ukrainian in public places in Crimea anymore
i didn't speak Ukrainian in public places anymore, because I realized what a huge
danger
Does he communicate with anyone from his very short Crimean past?
very short Crimean past? What do they say? Sometimes we manage to talk a little bit. I can say that they have not accepted Russia for themselves
accepted Russia for themselves, they are waiting. They tell me that there is no development in the country, only one
bureaucratic pressure and the introduction of ideology at all levels.
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