A schoolchildren’s language competition, well known inside and outside Ukraine, and named after its founder Petro Jacyk, an art patron from Canada, has been canceled this year — for the first time in its ten-year history. The competition was launched by the League of Ukrainian Philanthropists, which is in charge of all financial matters, and Ukraine’s Ministry for Education and Science, whose duty was to issue instructions about the competitions and select a jury. However, this year the ministry was not exactly willing to search for young native language experts and simply refused to co-organize the forum. It thus shut the door to a broader world for the language tournament participants, as its winners used to be awarded cash prizes by the founders, enjoy the latter’s support in their further studies, and could apply to higher educational institutions on a preferential basis. It was a great motivation for many schoolchildren to learn their mother tongue.
The ministry gave no well-grounded explanations as to why the competition has come to an end. The Day was told at the Ministry’s Department for General Secondary and Preschool Education that they do not deal with this matter because it is the domain of the Institute of Innovational Technologies and Content of Education. The institute’s people are also lifting their hands up in despair and saying they have received no ministerial instructions this year on participation in the competition.
The Ministry for Education and Science has not taken into account, for some reason, the way Ukraine will now look in the eyes of the Ukrainian diaspora, which has been the financial partner throughout this period, and the way another 27 countries, where it was also held, will react to this. For the competition not to be abolished altogether, the League of Philanthropists has decided to hold it in Ukrainian diaspora centers. The competition will start on November 9 — Ukrainian Language and Literature Day. But is it not strange to look for Ukrainian language connoisseurs outside Ukraine? Mykhailo SLABOSHPYTSKY, co-chairperson of the competition’s coordination board and executive director of the League of Ukrainian Philanthropists, told The Day about the damage that the cancellation of this prestigious competition is going to inflict on Ukraine’s image and language.
Mr. Slaboshpytsky, why is the Petro Jacyk competition now on the verge of annihilation?
“In the 10 years of its existence, [the Petro Jacyk competition] has become a full-fledged state-sponsored event assisted by civic organizations, patrons, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. We used to provide all prize funds. We assessed that six million hryvnias have been spent on the competition in 10 years. This is the money of local patrons and the diaspora, i.e., Ukrainians from all over the world. Each prize was named after somebody. In September or October, the minister used to issue an order about a new competition to be held on November 9 — Ukrainian Language and Literature Day. Every time the opening was held in a different city of Ukraine, as if it were a symbolic lighting of the Olympic flame. The previous contest was held in Mykolaiv and the 9th one was in Kirovohrad. Everything connected to tests, programs, and evaluations was done by a special ministerial jury. The competition has a supervisory board consisting of civic representatives and a board of trustees. This year we were worried that the ministerial order had been delayed. We said in letter to Dmytro Tabachnyk that this fact really worries us because the provinces will not be prepared for the competition. Moreover, we had decided as long ago as in May that the 11th competition would be held in Dnipropetrovsk oblast. The ministry tried to shun us, they gave us no answers, and we came to know recently that, by the minister’s injunction, the Ministry of Education unilaterally bowed out of the competition without letting us, an equal partner, know. We were told: you need it, so please hold it. But what Ukrainian school will let us in without ministerial permission and who will tell them that it is a serious state-sponsored event? We are confused and outraged. It is like a tree that has been taken care of for 10 years, which consolidated the nation, and has now been cut down. We used to hold the competition under the slogan that we are not against any language, be it Russian, Gagauz, or Crimean Tatar; we are for the official language. The ultimate goal was to raise the prestige of the official language. Children used to receive lavish awards from patrons: first prizes ranged from 7,000 hryvnias for 11th-graders to 6,000 for 10th-graders. I agree that there may be all kinds of situations, but why overpoliticize this issue? At the first competition, President Leonid Kuchma handed in the prizes, and then there were two decrees, by President Viktor Yushchenko and a special Cabinet resolution, to the effect that the competition should be held partly at the state’s expense. But this money was only designated for renting the Ivan Franko Theater, where the closing ceremony took place. There were also 14 presidential scholarships. All the rest was done at the expense of philanthropists from Ukraine, Australia, France, Germany, Canada, and even Russia. That was a precious example of cooperation between the public and the state. We know that the ministry has quietly drawn up a resolution on the Taras Shevchenko Language and Literature Competition to be launched next year. This will perhaps be an alternative to the Jacyk contest. I am aware that the arrival of a new governing team must bring along certain changes, but why did they not notify us or, after all, discuss things with us? Everything is done mindlessly and ignominiously. It is nothing but arbitrary rule. Everything could have been done to keep the wolves sated and the sheep intact, and channel good energy in the right direction. For this is a popular and prestigious competition with so many people supporting it. The diaspora in fact gives money for this contest only. The president is not too friendly with the diaspora, and this course of events is only aggravating the relations.”
Did you ask the head of state or the prime minister to help or to explain why Ukraine is canceling this prestigious competition?
“We have written an open letter to the president, signed by Dmytro Pavlychko, Ivan Dziuba, Mykola Zhulynsky, and other well-known people, which says that the minister is doing an unwise thing, complicating the relations between the president, the world public, and the diaspora. Had there been no reports from the provinces that there was a ministerial instruction and that the Jacyk competition was not being held, we would not know this even now. The Ministry of Education has given no explanation why it scrapped the contest.”
Debates are now rife on a new Ukrainian language law. Do you think this situation is linked with the competition?
“I can only see here the intrigues of one person who has clearly overdone it. The Ukrainian Language Competition was never politicized, Kuchma and Yushchenko respected it, as did Petro Jacyk himself; we used to work with various ministers of education, who belonged to different political camps, but this never created a problem. We had never awarded any party-sponsored prizes, although there were proposals from both right and left. No sooner had I given an interview to Radio Liberty a few days ago than letters began to pour in from patrons in Australia and the US, who are outraged and make political accusations. In other words, a mindless thing was done, which can aggravate the already tense situation in society. One must take a more cautious approach to Ukrainian realities and values. This robs schoolchildren of an opportunity. Many winners of the competition used to be admitted to universities on a non-fee-paying basis. We had a motivation: we used to convince children that they should study well and that their knowledge, particularly the command of Ukrainian, would be of great use. Just imagine, there was worldwide Ukrainian solidarity, for a child from, say, Yasynuvata or Debaltseve won a prize from a Toronto person and we demanded that children write letters of thanks to patrons and thus build spiritual bridges of sorts. It is a case of cultivating patriotism, and it is a nice and exalted cause that united many people. For, in addition to Ukraine, the competition was also held in 27 countries around the world — from China and Finland to former Soviet republics. This gave us a feeling that something very important was going on.”
Mr. Slaboshpytsky, how do you think all this will end and which side is going to win?
“Ours is going to win because governments may change, but the Ukrainian school and language will remain. We believe the next competition will begin on November 9 without the participation of Ukraine — where we will not be allowed to come — among the Ukrainian diaspora. And we will say over and over again that it is a shame that a contest like this should be held without Ukraine. The event will take place not in Dnipropetrovsk, as it was planned, but in Chicago or Adelaide — we will know this soon. Ukraine will not take part in it. This is the only answer we can give.”
