The Head of Karelia Andrei Nelidov made a promise to persuade the Ministry of Education and Science of Russian Federation to enter the Finnish language in the list of main foreign languages, which can be chosen for passing Unified State Examination (USE). According to the media-centre FINUGOR.RU, it was declared by the Head of Republic during the Karelian, Veps and Finns Council session.

The Finnish language situation turned to be much more spoken about during and after visiting the Republic by the Head of Foreign Service of the neighboring Finland Alexander Stubb. The diplomatic official met the representatives of the Finnish-speaking mass-media and faculty in Petrozavodsk. During the official negotiations with the Head of Karelia the parties entered into a treaty of priority-oriented studying of the Finnish language in Karelia.

However, many parents don’t want their children to study the language of the neighboring state at school, and one of the main reasons for it is impossibility of passing the USE in Finnish. According to the Minister of Education of Karelia Alexander Selyanin, last year the Ministry of Education of Russian Federation issued an edict concerning including Finnish in the list of main foreign languages, yet it was abrogated before its ratification.

The Head of Karelia charged the Ministry of Education to prepare the documents, which he is personally going to introduce to the federal officials in Moscow.

The Ministry of Education of Republic of Karelia mentioned as well in its report to the Karelian, Veps and Finns Council the fact, that jointly with Moscow Publishing house they are preparing a series of the Finnish language textbooks for Russian schools.

Alexey Tsykarev, The Media Centre FINUGOR.RU