On August 12, the State Language Protection Commissioner of Ukraine, Olena Ivanovska, held an online meeting with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland, Vasyl Bodnar.
The Commissioner thanked the Ambassador for his efforts to support the connection of Ukrainians living and working in Poland with their Homeland and for his constant attention to language issues.
“This is an invaluable contribution to the preservation of Ukrainian identity, culture, and, of course, the language,” noted Olena Ivanovska.
The parties discussed a wide range of issues concerning the protection of language rights of Ukrainians in Poland and citizens’ access to information and services in Ukrainian.
Special attention was paid to education: the functioning of Ukrainian schools, the teaching of Ukrainian as a second foreign language in Polish schools, the work of special Ukrainian teaching assistants supporting students, and the prospects of Polish universities joining the Global Coalition for Ukrainian Studies.
The initiative of teaching Ukrainian as a second foreign language for 7th–8th grade students, developed by Associate Professor Pavlo Levchuk of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, was separately highlighted.
This program is based on the State Language Standard adopted in September 2024 and provides a real opportunity to exercise the right to study Ukrainian as a second foreign language in Polish schools.
Under current Polish legislation, schools can introduce Ukrainian language teaching at the initiative of parents (with a written request to the administration), provided there is a teacher, a formed student group, and approval from the principal and governing body of the educational institution.
“Learning Ukrainian abroad is fundamental — it influences the identity and future of children who are now losing exposure to a Ukrainian-speaking environment. We must preserve Ukrainian by all possible means,” emphasized Vasyl Bodnar.