The Cabinet of Ministers approved the new State target national and cultural program aimed at the comprehensive development and effective functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language in all spheres of public life by 2030. This initiative is confirmed by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 243 of March 15, 2024.
Approximately 7.8 billion hryvnias have been allocated to the program, including 7.6 billion hryvnias from the state budget and 200 million hryvnias from local budgets.
According to the rationale, the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine dated July 14, 2021 pointed to the Russian Federation's use of the "language issue" as a tool of geopolitical expansion.
The document states that the threat to the Ukrainian language is a threat to national security and the existence of the state. The facts of lingucide, which became evident after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation in 2022, underscore this threat.
The main tasks of the program are:
- Strengthening the state status of the Ukrainian language and developing an effective mechanism for its protection and popularization.
- Ensuring compliance with the requirements of the law regarding the use of the state language by officials at all levels of power and management.
- Motivation of the population to learn and communicate in the Ukrainian language.
- Development of a network of Ukrainian language courses, including distance and online courses.
- Improving the quality of Ukrainian language teaching in educational institutions.
- Introduction of exams for the level of proficiency in the state language and an international certification exam for the Ukrainian language as a foreign language.
- Support of scientific research in the field of Ukrainian linguistics and sociolinguistics.
- Development of the national dictionary base and ensuring access to it for users.
- Stimulation of the development of Ukrainian-language cultural products in the mass media, film and video industry, including the dubbing of classic works of world cinema in the Ukrainian language.
- Creation of Ukrainian-language information products for children.
- Support of the book publishing business, in particular the publication of books in the Ukrainian language, both on the domestic and international markets.
- Raising citizens' awareness of legislation on the state language and providing access to information in the Ukrainian language through various media.
