ABSTRACT
Russia has a long tradition of education in minority languages, particularly through national schools designed for non-Russian nationalities, established during the Soviet period. Where minority rights intersect education rights, there are two concomitant functions for the education system: providing minorities with the opportunity to receive a particular type of education but also guaranteeing members of the majority an education that reflects society's pluralism. This form of interculturalism, promoting mutual knowledge and understanding, can only be achieved when states embrace their positive responsibilities, rather than remaining within the confines of their negative responsibilities, through simple non-interference in the cultural life of minorities. The increased marginalisation of minority languages in the education sphere, and the use of the school environment for patriotic indoctrination, suggest a type of education that is more akin to acculturation than interculturalism. The decrease in minority-language education was accompanied by a growing emphasis on the Russian language and culture.
