Surely Imperfect but in the Right Direction

As previously discussed on this blog, this year Armenia was due to pass to a full standardized uniform examination format for its secondary school terminal year evaluation. Last year, only 4 subjects at terminal year were tested in this format: Armenian Language and Literature, Russian Language, Mathematics, and Foreign Languages (English, German, French and Spanish). In 2007, the exam of only one subject, Armenian Language and Literature, was given this way.

This year, students took standardized tests on Biology, Chemistry, Geography, History, Physics, in addition to the 4 subjects that were standardized last year.

The standardized exams are administered and scored under uniform conditions and as a consequence raise the transparency and the reliability of the assessment. All students in the terminal year across the country take the same test, correctors are selected randomly, and students remain anonymous to correctors. These reduce substantially the opportunities for corruption.

As expected, there were some problems this year due to the scale of operations; some exams were apparently too difficult and some minor cheating incidents were recorded.

Armenia Now online weekly magazine reported that the main complaint of applicants and their parents was about complexity of certain tests and time pressure.

According to the data reported by the Ministry of Education Testing Center, the average score for the Armenian Language and Literature, and Mathematics this year were lowered by 3 points compared to last year’s. The average score for the Armenian Language and Literature made 11.4 points, for Mathematics – 10.8 points. (These are on 20 point scale)

A total of 13,196 students took part in the examination on the Armenian Language and Literature, 4.5 percent of whom got 18-20 points. And 5.2 percent of 9,473 got 18-20 points for Mathematics. The majority of test takers or 64.7 percent got 8-13 points for Armenian Language and Literature and 55 percent got the same points for Mathematics.

For the English Language 21.5 percent of 7,929 test takers got 18-20 points. Among 429 students taking the exam in French 48 percent got 18-20 points.

Turkey Struggles with the Idea of Education in Kurdish

Kurdish Language and Literature are due to enter into Turkish higher education scene in the near future. The topic of Kurdish as native Language at school, however, remains a controversial one. This of course relates to public education. Private education is under less restrictions; Turkey's 3rd private Kurdish language school was opened in 2004 in the province of Van.

Zaman Turkish daily recently reported that Turkey’s Parliamentary Research Center had conducted a survey of policies in EU member countries in order to figure out the steps that could be taken with respect to offering education in Kurdish.

According to the survey, “the best and most feasible option” for Turkey would be to offer Kurdish Language as elective subject. All the other proposals would most likely be rejected. Moreover, the Center concluded that such a measure would be “a fairly difficult and long process.”

The issue of Kurdish language returned to public debate after Democratic Society Party (DTP) leader Mr. Ahmet Türk addressed DTP deputies in his native Kurdish language in Parliament. This caused an uproar in the country but Mr. Türk was not imprisoned. Times have changed. In 1991, Ms. Leyla Zana, a Kurdish politician and elected deputy, attempted to take her oath in Kurdish. Her immunity was cancelled and she served 10 years in prison.

Legal Obstacles

The Parliamentary Research Center examined international documents and reports on minorities and education in native languages. The Center placed more attention on EU and Council of Europe legislation on protecting minority rights due to its relevance to Turkey as EU candidate country.

According to the center's findings, it seems unlikely that Kurdish will be used to teach in public education in a near future due to Turkey's reservation to Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Turkey is hesitant about this article because of Articles 3 and 42 of its Constitution, which state that the official language of the state is Turkish and that no other language other than Turkish can be taught to Turkish citizens in any educational institution.

Another agreement Turkey made reservations to is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was signed on 15 August 2000 and became effective on 23 September 2003. Turkey was hesitant about ratifying the covenant in accordance with the relevant provisions and rules of 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and its appendices. Turkey bases its minority policies on the Treaty of Lausanne, which only recognizes Orthodox Greeks, Jews and Armenians as minorities. No ethnic groups are considered minorities.

Turkey also made a reservation to Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the grounds that it was in conflict with the law on the unification of education.

Therefore, Turkey will not be able to ensure education in native language of minorities until it removes its reservations to these 3 international agreements and changes certain articles in its Constitution.

European Examples

According to Zaman, the Parliamentary Research Center “made interesting findings on the education situation in EU member countries,” that is presented below.

There is, however, another interesting aspect to this survey; the Center has not included some important multi-ethnic countries in its study: Belgium, Romania, Luxembourg and Switzerland. (True, Switzerland is not a EU member country but is a good example of a state offering education in different native languages). The Center has included Spain and Bulgaria - the only 2 other major multiethnic states in Europe.

It seems to me that the ethnic and linguistic realities in Belgium, Switerland and, for that matter even Canada are much more relevant to Kurdish problem in Turkey than, say, Saterfrisian in Germany or Gypsies in Portugal.

Austria
Austria supports the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. While the official language is German, all other minority languages are protected. Slovenes, Croats, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks and the Roma are the national minorities. The native languages of minorities are considered the official language along with German. In areas dominated by minorities, public schools provide education in the native languages of the minorities.

Bulgaria
While Bulgaria has ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, it has not signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. According to the Constitution, citizens of Bulgaria whose native language is not Bulgarian have the right to learn and use their native language. The laws state conditions under which the official Bulgarian language is the only valid language.

Denmark
Denmark has signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The German minority enjoy every kind of lingual, educational, religious and cultural rights. They even receive funding from the national budget for education.

England
A supporter of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, England does not have any laws on the rights of ethnic, religious and cultural minorities. Ethnic and cultural minorities have the right to broadcast in their native language and open private schools.

France
Although France ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 1999, it made a reservation that the agreement did not mean that it recognized national minorities. While France recognizes differences on individual level in practice, there is only one television channel that broadcasts in English and a few radio stations that broadcast at most 40-minute programs in other languages each day. Local languages are taught in both public and private schools starting from kindergarten all the way up to college. English, Basque, Catalan, Occitan and Corsican are offered as elective classes in schools.

Germany
While Germany has ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, it has declared that the only four national minority groups in Germany are the Danes, Sorbians, Frisians and the Sinti and Roma of German citizenship. Within the scope of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, citizens have the right to learn Northern Frisian, Saterfrisian, Low German and the Roma language. But it is up to local administrations to exercise this right. Minority groups have the right to both speak and write in their native languages in their private life as well as in public. There is no restriction in German laws on education in native languages or broadcasting or printing in native languages. The Danish minority have their own schools.

Greece
Greece has ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. While the rights of the Turkish Muslim minority were determined in the Treaty of Lausanne, the government allows citizens to give Turkish names to their children, but does not allow predominantly Turkish areas to be named in Turkish. There are no laws that require broadcasts to be strictly in Greek; however, broadcasts in other languages must use the Greek language for at least 25 percent of the program. The proper use of the Greek language and subtitles is required in broadcasts. There are no Greek television channels that broadcast in any foreign language. In western Thrace, Turkish language classes are offered in 230 primary schools and high schools. Although according to agreements the Turkish minority has the right to set up educational institutions, in Greece they are not allowed to open any new educational institutions.

Italy
Italy has ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. It has signed but not ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The official language is Italian; however, popular minority languages are Albanian, Catalan, German, Greek, Slavic languages, French, southeastern and Provencal French, Ladino, Friulian and Sardinian. These minority groups are allowed to preserve their languages and cultures. In predominantly minority areas, official documents are prepared both in Italian and the minority language; however, only the Italian version is considered valid. Broadcasting in minority languages is allowed. Upon request, minority languages are taught to children in addition to Italian in primary education. General rules are set by the Italian National Education Ministry.

Portugal
Although Portugal has signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, it does not support the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. There are no ethnic or cultural minorities in Portugal aside from Gypsies. While the cultural rights of Gypsies are respected, they do not have any minority rights.

Slovakia
Slovakia ratified both the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The terms “national minorities” and “ethnic groups” are used in the Constitution. The Constitution ensures these groups the right to develop their cultural heritage with citizens of the same origin, obtain information in their native languages, broadcast in their native language and set up their own cultural and educational institutions.

Spain
Spain has ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. According to the Constitution drafted in 1978, there are 17 autonomous regions in the country. Each autonomous region has its own local assembly. Local administrations have jurisdiction over issues related to the environment, transportation, forestry, economy, health, public assistance, tourism, entertainment, police services and culture. Although the official language is Spanish, minority languages are respected, protected and regarded as cultural assets. The native language of the region is used in public education and broadcasts in Catalonia, Basque and Galicia, and in all autonomous regions, citizens are allowed to freely speak in their native languages.

Sweden
Sweden has signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Minority rights are protected by the Constitution. National minorities are Jews, Roma, Sami, Swedish Finns and Tornedalians. While the languages of Sami, Finnish and Meänkieli (Tornedalian Finnish) are considered minority and regional languages, Yiddish and Romani are considered non-territorial minority languages. Minorities enjoy every right granted by international law.

The Netherlands
It has ratified both the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. There are no restrictions in Dutch law on the ethnic, religious and cultural rights of minorities. With the law on teaching existing foreign languages that was implemented in 1997, education in the native language of minorities was excluded from the curriculum but based on election.