KIEV, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine plans to introduce mother tongue classes for the national minorities after the implementation of the education reform, the country's Education Ministry said on Wednesday.
"We would have two education plans -- one for the Ukrainian-language schools, another for the minority-language schools. We will include the hours to study the mother tongues in the education plan for the minorities," Pavlo Hobzey, Ukraine's Deputy Education Minister, said in a statement.
Last month, Ukraine adopted a new education law, which envisages that Ukrainian will be the first language in all public secondary and high schools.
A string of countries, which have large ethnic groups in Ukraine, voiced their concerns that the legislation would deprive the national minorities of rights to learn in their mother tongue.
In particular, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Russia have expressed concerns over the bill, which is set to enter into force in 2020.
Currently, Ukrainian students, who study in public schools, are allowed to choose whether to be taught in Ukrainian or in the other language if this option is offered by the school.
According to local media, there are more than 700 schools across Ukraine, which provide lessons for about 400,000 students in the languages of the national minorities.
Ukraine has submitted the new education law to the Council of Europe for consideration.
