1. Case-study No. & Title:
No. 193. Program for the publication of textbooks in Uzbek language for Uzbek schools in South Kazakhstan

Keywords

2. Author information:
2.1 Author’s Name
Igor Savin

2.2 Institutional Affiliation and Contact Details:
Non-governmental Organisation - the Informative Communicative Service "The Dialogue"

Tel.: 7 3252 537028
E-mail: savdial-shm@nursat.kz ; savigsa@inbox.ru

2.3 Date recorded
25/12/2000

3. Good Practice Information Sheet
3.1 Local Level Good Practice:
Publishing of textbooks in Uzbek language using the Cyrillic alphabet to overcome the isolation of Uzbek schools pupils from Kazakhstan public information (predominantly based on the Cyrillic alphabet)

3.2 Location:
South-Kazakhstan district

3.3 Minority/Target Groups:
Minority: Uzbeks;
Target Group: pupils and teachers of the Uzbek schools

3.4 Major Actors Involved

3.5 Budget allocated by local government authorities and/or by other actors
Local budget allocated in 2000 USD 240000 for the preparation and printing of 8000 textbooks for elementary schools. It is planned to spend the same sum in 2001.

3.6 Time frame
The initiative was first proposed 1999, officially launched in December 1999, put in practice in 2000. It is expected to continue until the end of 2001.

3.7 Local level good practice relation to national level ethnic policy
National Law "On languages" proclaims the State responsibility for the protection and development of minority languages. Indeed, however, this is the first example in which the state (at the local level) assumes such responsibility in a concrete manner.

4. Good Practice Description
The Uzbek minority of South Kazakhstan numbers about 400,000 persons. Uzbeks are concentrated mainly in three districts – the Sayram, the Lengher and the Turkestan. There are 70 Uzbek-language schools in the region (with an attendance of 77,000 pupils), all of them having been built during the Soviet period. These schools, according to tradition, received all necessary educational plans, programs and textbooks from the Ministry of Education of Uzbekistan.

In 1994 Uzbekistan adopted the Latin alphabet and as a result, the Uzbek-language schools of South Kazakhstan also adopted it, from 1995 its first-year pupils began to study using the new alphabet. This caused a lot of problems with programs, methodological elaboration, and visual supports – some of which were worked out by the teachers of local regional schools. The schools managed to adapt to the new situation with good results and the pupils of elementary schools have been studying for some years in the Uzbek-language schools of Kazakhstan using the Latin alphabet.

Since 1998, however, teachers, parents and local public opinion began to express concern that the pupils of those schools might become a group isolated from society at large, since both Kazakh and Russian languages use the Cyrillic alphabet and are the two dominant language of public life. In perspective, after leaving school, the Uzbek pupils will have problems with the continuation of their studies in any language based on the Cyrillic alphabet, because they will not have been prepared for this. As most Uzbeks do not want to leave Kazakhstan, their homeland, schooling based on the Latin alphabet will offer no prospects. The leaders of both Uzbek cultural centres – the one of South Kazakhstan and the one of the republic – began to ask Kazakh educational institutions to reform the system of education in the Uzbek-language schools returning to use the Cyrillic for all subjects except Uzbek language, which should be taught via the Latin alphabet as to remain in line with cultural development in Uzbekistan. The problem remained unsolved for some years as it required an agreement between the Kazakh and Uzbek governments.

The problem was repeatedly discussed by the Presidium of Kazakhstan’s Assembly of Nations. The NGO "Dialog", responsible for the ethno-political monitoring in Kazakhstan continued to inform the Assembly leaders about the difficult situation in the field. In February 1999, a special commission including some Assembly deputies and a representative of the Supreme commissar of the OSCE for ethnic minorities, M. van der Stuhl, visited the region.

In spring 1999, the Kazakh Ministry of Education established a special commission to address the problem. Finally a decision was reached by the autumn of 1999. In December 1999 the president of Kazakhstan, M. Nazarbayev presented to the Assembly the final decision concerning the problem adopted by the republican government: all textbooks would be published in Cyrillic. The Uzbek minority’s representatives reiterated their petition to teach Uzbek language using the Latin alphabet, and this was rejected.

The preparation period for publishing new textbooks lasted the spring and summer of 2000. Teachers of Uzbek-language schools, scientists and writers of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan took part in this work. By the end of the summer 2000 the regional schools received the first consignment of the textbooks (8000 copies) for the primary sector.

In spite of some shortcomings the Uzbek public opinion accepted the fact as evidence of governmental concern for the Uzbek minority’s needs. The pupils of the first level within Uzbek-language schools of South Kazakhstan began to study from the new textbooks.