Assessment of the Educational Needs of Crimean Tatars and Other Formerly Deported Peoples

Abstract

This assessment of the educational needs of the Crimean Tatars and other FDPs will focus on two main elements. First, it examines policies that recognize the need of the Crimean Tatars and other FDPs to preserve and maintain their languages, and that aim to build an educational environment where these languages and minority cultures may function and develop. The objectives of such policies should be:• increasing opportunities to learn minority languages;• increasing the number of learners, especially in a situation where the language is endangered or lost;• raising the status of the minority languages in the education system.Second, the assessment will examine which education policies can contribute to the development of a more cohesive society. Social cohesion is affected by education in two ways: development of norms and values that favor cooperation with others, and by the reduction of differences resulting from disparities in income. Income equality is correlated with social cohesion in cross-national comparisons. Creating a more cohesive society is likely to require policies that are also designed to increase equality in education. Overall, education policies should target the following objectives:• improve the distribution of educational resources, opportunities and outcomes among diverse school populations; • develop competencies in pupils, such as active citizenship, democratic participation, tolerance,appreciation of diversity, and nonviolent conflict resolution;• increase transparency and community participation in national education policy formulation, planning and management. The assessment seeks to identify to what extent current educational policies (in compulsory schools education) address the needs of the Crimean Tatars and other FDPs and contribute to the achievement of the objectives listed above through an analysis of the main policy planning domains, such as pupils, curricula, teachers, infrastructure and resources, parental and community involvement.