The Cabinet of Ministers approved a new State Targeted 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 until 2030. This initiative is confirmed by the Cabinet of Ministers' Order No. 243-р dated March 15, 2024.
Approximately 7.8 billion hryvnias have been allocated to the program, of which 7.6 billion hryvnias from the state budget and 200 million hryvnias from local budgets.
According to the justification, the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine of July 14, 2021 indicated the use by the Russian Federation 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 linguocide, which became apparent after the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, underscore this threat.
The main objectives 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 government and administration.
- 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 teaching the Ukrainian language in educational institutions.
- Introduction of exams for the level of proficiency in the state language and an international certification exam in Ukrainian as a foreign language.
- Support for scientific research in the field of Ukrainian linguistics and sociolinguistics.
- Development of a national dictionary database and ensuring access to it for users.
- Stimulating the development of Ukrainian-language cultural production in the mass media, film and video industries, including dubbing classics of world cinema into Ukrainian.
- Creation of Ukrainian-language information products for children.
- Supporting book publishing, in particular the publication of books in the Ukrainian language, both in the domestic and international markets.
- Raising citizens' awareness of legislation on the state language and ensuring access to information in the Ukrainian language through various media.
