Kazakhstan President does not consider state language a political issue

Kazakhstan President does not consider the state language a political issue, Tengrinews.kz reports from the 19th session of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan. “Languages is not the issue of politics today. The political decision was made long time ago with adoption of the Constitution and certain laws. The language issue should not be a subject of political speculations. We have shown here that there are good methods of learning the state language for communication. At the same time nobody should in any way be discriminated by language: when applying for a job, getting a certificate, entering a university or a school. This issue is dealt with by the Constitution and laws. They have to be observed and those who violate it have to be punished,” Nursultan Nazarbayev said. Kazakhstan President also drew attention to the need to promote learning of three languages and expressed an opinion that Kazakhstan citizens have to emphasis on learning foreign languages as well. “The absolute majority of citizens of any developed country, from taxi drivers to managers, speak two or three languages these days. That’s why in technologically advanced countries such subjects as chemistry, mathematics, physics and biology are taught at school in their native languages, while education in universities is mainly in English. If we want to know more, move forward and study in advanced countries we need to know this language as well. This is a necessity,” President noted. Kazakhstan President instructed the Ministry of Education and Science to focus on selecting a universal teaching method applied in the world for learning languages. In his speech Nursultan Nazarbayev once again reminded that 90 percent of Kazakhstan citizens, especially young people, have to speak the state language (Kazakh) by 2020. By Assel Satayeva