Today, August 5, as part of a working visit to Lviv, the State Language Protection Commissioner Taras Kremin met with the leadership of the Lviv Region - the head of the Lviv Regional Council Iryna Hrymak and Maksym Kozytskyi, the head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration.

During the meeting, the parties agreed that in the near future a regional program for the support of the Ukrainian language will be developed and approved in the Lviv region, which will be discussed in the councilors’ commissions and the expert circle.

In addition, it was agreed that the network of free courses and conversation clubs for language learning will be expanded as broad as possible.

According to the Commissioner, as of August 2, 2022, there are 73 free online resources, courses, and conversational clubs for mastering Ukrainian in Lviv and the region. Information about the courses can be found on the official website of the Commissioner.

"Today, Lviv is an example of solidarity and mutual assistance. The Lviv region is the undisputed leader in the organization of courses. Local communities of Lviv, Boryslav, Truskavets, Stryi, Chervonograd, Zolochiv, Brodiv, Dublyan, Lysynichiv joined the initiative. But it is worth emphasizing that the majority of educational initiatives are presented in Lviv. At the same time, taking into account the record number of temporarily displaced persons who have found shelter in different parts of the Lviv region, this list of initiatives needs to be increased and spread to a larger number of local communities," Taras Kremin emphasized.

Let’s remind that as of August 1, 245,000 internally displaced persons were officially registered in the Lviv region. Almost 75,000 of them are children. "Given the approach of September 1, the beginning of the new academic year, these courses will be useful for both schoolchildren and students who, due to the military operations, today found themselves in Lviv Oblast and want to speak Ukrainian better," said Taras Kremin.

The Commissioner hopes that the regional programs for the support of the Ukrainian language will be able to become the basis for the corresponding state language, and it will be approved by the end of 2022. "And this includes strengthening the state status of the Ukrainian language, and improving the quality of Ukrainian teaching in educational institutions, and ensuring the language rights of Ukrainians abroad, and supporting and popularizing the Ukrainian language abroad, etc.," Taras Kremin emphasized.

"Now the issue of language is more relevant than ever. I am convinced that the adoption of the program will be a good example for other regions of Ukraine. Language is the code of the nation. And the war greatly strengthened this feeling. And also - it presented us with new challenges, in particular, with regard to ensuring the study of the Ukrainian language by temporarily displaced Ukrainians", Iryna Hrymak noted.