Disputed Russian language in eastern Finland
Six municipalities in eastern Finland have requested permission from the country’s Education Ministry to teach Russian instead of Swedish in local schools.
The municipalities of Lappeenranta, Imatra, Mikkeli, Savonlinna, Pieksämäki and Tohmajärvi are applying for permission from the Ministry of Education to be excused from teaching Swedish, YLE reports. They argue that the Russian language is far more useful for the pupils than Swedish both in social life and in work situations.
Finland has two official languages and all the country’s children have compulsory teaching in the Swedish language. Meanwhile, only about six percent of the country’s population, most of them living in the western part of the country, has Swedish as their first language.
The municipalities suggest that the children should have the possibility to themselves choose between Swedish and Russian.
Read also: Russian instead of Swedish in Finnish schools
One the towns applying to the Education Ministry — Lappeenranta – sees the introduction of the Russian language as a key to its ambitions of becoming an international town and a bridgehead in EU-Russia relations, Yle writes.
