Development of bilingual education in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China at the present stage

Abstract

The article examines the features of the system of bilingual education of national minorities in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The specificity of the SUAR lies in the polyethnic and polylinguistic composition of the population. Uighurs and Han Chinese predominate, having socio-economic, religious, cultural, and linguistic differences. It is more difficult for the indigenous Turkic-speaking population to adapt to the modern socio-economic situation, the insufficiently educated population becomes the basis for the development of nationalist and extremist sentiments. The Government notes the relationship between terrorist activity and the educational backwardness of the local Uighur population, which leads to increased efforts to develop bilingual education as a counter-terrorism measure. The 2009 ethnic riots in Xinjiang and the change of leadership in China have strengthened the state's approach to promoting bilingual education. The policy of universalizing Putonghua in Xinjiang schools leads to a rejection reaction among national minorities. Bilingual education is the strategy of the plan for the socio-economic development of the autonomous region by providing Uighurs with language and educational skills to realize opportunities. Bilingual education is carried out at all levels of education: kindergartens, schools, universities. Bilingual education is becoming the main one and is designed to ensure a high degree of socialization of young people from national minorities. Bilingual education leads to ambiguous consequences: It contributes to the socio-economic development of the Turkic-speaking population, but causes discontent among the indigenous population, who perceive it as a violation of nationalculture and customs.