The event was organised by the Russian Ministry of Education and the Institute of Content and Teaching Methods in collaboration with the Russian Znaniye Society and is being held in Moscow at the Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia.
The Forum for Teachers of Russian Language and Literature and Teacher Librarians has brought together participants from all 89 regions of Russia.
Opening the Forum, Presidential Adviser and Chair of the Presidential Council for State Policy on Promoting the Russian Language and Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation Yelena Yampolskaya highlighted the exceptional importance and value of the work carried out by teachers of Russian language and literature in educating younger generations, shaping moral guidelines, and instilling values in schoolchildren.
Yelena Yampolskaya informed Forum participants about the Council’s work, among the most critical areas of which she singled out the development of the draft Foundations of Russia’s State Language Policy. She emphasised that the draft has already been prepared and will soon be submitted to the President.
In addition, special mention was made of the joint efforts by the Council and the Ministry of Education to create a unified state series of school textbooks on Russian language, literature, and literary reading.
The Presidential Adviser stressed that the content of the unified state series of school textbooks must be balanced and interconnected, taking into account the cognitive and perceptual characteristics of modern children and adolescents. It is essential that the textbooks reflect the key ideas of the state’s strategic objectives and traditional Russian spiritual and moral values, while fostering civic identity and preserving Russia’s cultural code.
According to the Presidential Adviser, the primary goal of the new textbooks should be to spark a genuine interest and love for the native word, language, and literature among school students. Yelena Yampolskaya invited Forum participants –teachers of Russian language and literature with innovative ideas – to contribute to this crucial and highly responsible work.
Regarding support for school libraries, the Presidential Adviser reported that, in particular, an analysis of library collections in schools across nearly all regions of Russia has been conducted, with proposals for updating these collections now being prepared based on the findings.
Furthermore, as Yelena Yampolskaya noted, efforts are underway to ensure systematic and professional support for children’s literature. It is necessary to guarantee a high artistic standard in books for children while improving their accessibility. An Expert Council on Children’s Books has been established under the Russian Book Union, chaired by Yelena Yampolskaya, with the task of evaluating children’s literature published in the country and developing a systematic approach to working with authors.
The Presidential Adviser expressed confidence that the Council’s work in implementing state policy to promote the Russian language and the languages of the peoples of Russia in the aforementioned areas will be fruitful.