Education of Ethnic and National Minorities in the USSR: a report on current developments

Abstract

Each of the fifteen Union Republics is given, by the Soviet Constitution, the responsibility for public education. Thus, each has a ministry for education which exercises the functions assigned by the Constitution and implements current legislation promulgated by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Leadership and initiative in educational matters are essentially vested in the ministerial authority for education of the USSR. From the early years of development of the Soviet Union, educational efforts have been exerted toward the achievement of universal literacy, the expansion of technological capability and devotion to the tenets of the Soviet state. Such activities have, over the years, required the establishment of an educational system which would be reponsive to the three goals I have noted, and which would function with reference to the centralised organisation, planning and control inherent in Soviet principles. Thus, economic requirements for competent, skilled manpower and the prerequisite educational foundations have been closely interwoven. At the same time, the cultural and social components of educational activities are infused with the necessary ideological requirements of the Communist order. In the pursuit of development goals, Soviet authorities have provided ever-increasing facilities and opportunities for education to all groups in the population. Documentation has shown that, with increasing numbers in the various nationality groups, there are greater enrolments in the schools, almost complete literacy has been achieved, and there is ever greater access to higher levels of education. When compared with data of the early 1920s, current information may be viewed with euphoria. With the publication of the 1970 All-Union Census [1] we are able to note some details of how the nationalities have progressed to that date. We find a differentiation of levels of achievement among the various groups. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the information presented, to reflect upon the apparent achievements of nationalities, and to