While Russian language is banned in Ukraine, Azerbaijan, on the contrary, protects and promotes it. A seminar was held in Baku recently for teachers of the Russian language and literature. The task was to improve the quality of education. In Azerbaijan, Russian is taught in schools and universities, students and schoolchildren read Russian classics in the original and admit that they even think in Russian more often than in Azerbaijani. Vestnik Kavkaza presents the report of Vesti 24 correspondent Andrei Shlyapnikov - "Intensive Russian courses" are introduced in Azerbaijan.
This year, tens of thousands of Azerbaijani schoolchildren will be taught in the language of Pushkin, Tolstoy and Yesenin. 50 educational schools will participate in the project titled 'Intensive Russian Language'. "We have similar projects for other languages, for example, English. But in terms of coverage and prevalence of Russian language in the education system, we can not compare it with any other foreign language. Approximately 8% of all schoolchildren in the country are taught in Russian today," the Azerbaijani Minister of Education Mikail Jabbarov said.
There are 327 schools in Azerbaijan, where about 90,000 students are taught in Russian in the so-called Russian sector. An additional 450,000 schoolchildren study Russian as a second foreign language in the Azerbaijani sector.
"Our school very much appreciates the knowledge of Russian. We study Russian language and Russian literature. Almost all our pupils are fluent in Russian," a student of 11th grade Fatima Aslanova said (Azerbaijani sector).
"It's a long tradition to study in Russian in Baku. For many people it is very important, it is a value, a priority," the director of the gymnasium school Faina Alekperova said.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev sometimes personally attends the opening of educational institutions. The head of the state received higher education at Russia's MGIMO. Therefore, it is not surprising that there is a lot of appreciation for the Russian language in one of the most prestigious Baku schools. 40% of the children there have started school this year in the Azerbaijani sector, and 60% - in the Russian sector.
The football player of Qarabag FK and the national team of Azerbaijan, a native Baku resident Maxim Medvedev said: "Since the 19th century, after some Russians were moved to the Caucasus, all my relatives have moved to Azerbaijan. In fact, Azerbaijanis treat Russians very well, they welcome us very warmly, like we have lived here forever. "
"It is commonplace to think in Russian at home. Naturally, if a child does not think in this language, then he will not be able to express his thoughts. How can you read Pushkin, Nekrasov, Lermontov, Chernyshevsky without knowing Russian language?" asks the deputy director of the school for teaching and educational work, Tarana Samedova.
Good-bye, Baku! So, I shall never see you.
And I’m afraid of fate, my southern land.
The heart is under hand and it’s so near.
And now I feel two simple words: my friend.
'Today I asked the money - changer', 'Letter to the mother', 'Farewell to Baku!', Sergei Yesenin was inspired to create the famous cycle 'Persian motifs' here - in the village of Mardakian. The central street of Mardakan named after Yesenin. He dreamed of visiting Persia, but the Soviet leadership feared for the life of the poet after the regrettable events with the ambassador of the Russian Empire Griboyedov. Yesenin was brought to the villa of millionaire Murtuza Mukhtarov near Baku and solemnly informed that he was in Persia. But even when the fraud was opened, Yesenin stayed here for another year. Now every October 3 they celebrate the birthday of the great Russian poet in the museum of Sergei Yesenin.
"Here they read Sergei Yesenin's poems, listen musical performances with Sergei Yesenin's lyrics, romances. Guests from different countries, including Russia, come here. We, Baku people, have always loved and will love the great Russian poet Sergei Yesenin," the director of the house-museum of Sergei Yesenin Nazaket Ibadova said.
The news in Russian broadcast by the main national television channel of Azerbaijan AzTV from 6 to 6.40 p.m. is transmitted every day. AzTV has always had daily news broadcasts in Russian. And now the population's need for news in Russian becomes even greater in connection with the strategic, economic and tourist ties of the two peoples.
"There is a very large Russian community in Azerbaijan, more than half of the population is fluent in Russian. Traditions also have an impact, as well as the fact that there are very good interpersonal relations between people in Azerbaijan and in Russia. The relations are great, and this affects the fact that we also broadcast in Russian," the general director of AzTV information programs studio, Faik Gusiyev, said.
Now students do not necessarily have to study in Russia, because the branches of the two largest Russian universities, the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov and the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University are open in Baku. For 6 years 622 students graduated from the Moscow State University branch. The Faculty of Philology the Faculty of Chemistry and the Economic Faculty are the most popular.
"This is one of the best universities in both Azerbaijan and Russia. Professors from Moscow lecture here. They give us wonderful knowledge. I am happy with my choice," the student of the Baku branch of the Moscow State University Tamara Ibragimova said.
Everyone speaks Russian on the campus - students, teachers and even cleaners.
"I'm trying even harder here. I feel that very much depends on my lectures. And not only here and now, but maybe for several years to come," a professor at the Department of Russian Literature of XX century at the Moscow State University, Alexander Ledenev, said.
"We are optimistic about the future. The ties on which the relations between our peoples are built are transmitted through the education system. We look to the future with the same optimism," Education Minister Mikail Jabbarov said.
Thanks to such a policy of Azerbaijan's leadership, in a few years the percentage of people with a perfect knowledge of literary Russian language can increase exponentially.
