They choose Russian at home: 51% of teenagers do not communicate in Ukrainian, — MES

As Ukrinform reports with reference to the speech of Deputy Minister of Education and Science Anastasia Konovalova during the forum "Ukrainian is the language of the strong" in Kyiv for the Day of Ukrainian Writing and Language, despite the increase in the level of knowledge, the use of Ukrainian in the everyday life of teenagers is decreasing. According to her data, in 2022, 46% of children used Ukrainian constantly, in 2023 this indicator increased to 55%, and in 2024 it decreased to 49%.

At the same time, the number of those who consider themselves a confident user of the language is growing: 61% in 2022, 72% in 2023 and 75% in 2024. "That is, today children know and speak the Ukrainian language better every year, but compared to last year, they use it less in everyday life," explained Konovalova.

According to the deputy minister, teenagers cite several reasons for the rare use of Ukrainian: "In the fourth year of a full-scale war, 9% of teenagers face prejudice in their environment, and this is a significant figure," Konovalova emphasized. She also added that parents of schoolchildren see the influence of social networks and children's fear of speaking in Ukrainian among the reasons for the rare use of Ukrainian.

Therefore, it is important to create a tolerant environment and support those who switch to Ukrainian, even if they still use Surzhik due to insufficient knowledge of the language. We will remind you that the writer Larisa Nitsoi considers language coercion necessary for the implementation of the law without violence. She also emphasized that public "disgust" towards the Russian language helps to support Ukrainian in everyday life.