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Evgenia MIKHAILOVA
Rector, North-Eastern Federal University
(Yakutsk, Russian Federation)
Our Common Goal is to Preserve Not Only Our Language,
but also Our Culture, Environment and People
The First International Conference on Linguistic and Cultural Diversity held
three years ago in Yakutsk was extremely informative and enlightening for
many of us. Earlier, I have already tried to take real actions within the scope
of my powers to create conditions for studying native languages at preschool
educational institutions and at schools in order to preserve and promote
cultural and linguistic diversity in the republic, expand the social base of native
languages and the scope of their application and to publish works of writers
and poets representing all the peoples living in Yakutia. After the conference
in 2008, the preservation and promotion of cultural and linguistic diversity of
our peoples became my highest priority.
Our republic is multinational. The Yakuts (Sakha) are the most northern of
stock-raising peoples, they have a particular economic structure, material
and spiritual culture, as well as unique methods of education of their children
and youth. People of Sakha familiarize their children with monuments of
national culture from an early age. Conditions for the formation of linguistic
competence and development of individuals, capable of using the system of
global communication and familiar with information technology, have been
created in educational institutions of the republic. In Yakutia, great importance
is attached to the linguistic background, because it is viewed as a basis for
cross-cultural communication that shapes the consciousness of a person,
determines their world views, promotes readiness for dialogue, respect for their
own culture and traditions, tolerance of other languages and cultures. In 1996-
1997, which were declared by M. Nikolaev, President of the Republic of Sakha
(Yakutia), the years of youth and education, content priorities of the courses
of Russian, native and foreign languages were revised. The main focus was on
the communicative aspect of language education, on free speech activity and
communicational culture. Familiarizing students with the nation's cultural
heritage and culture of modern society and teaching them to use their native
language freely in all public areas of its application were announced priority
tasks of language education.
In the academic year 1996/1997, it was made possible in schools to study and
to get education in six languages, namely in Russian, Yakut, Evenk, Even,
Yukaghir and Chukchi languages. Following results were achieved during
those years: 1,099 Evens (47.7% of all Even children), 907 Evenks (27.1%),
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