Human rights activists have called on Kokov to disclose data on how schoolchildren are taught their native languages.

The Ministry of Education of Kabardino-Balkaria refused to provide data on the number of schoolchildren of Kabardian and Balkar ethnicity who chose Russian as their native language. Students and their parents could face pressure to abandon the study of their national languages, human rights activists stated in an appeal to the head of the republic.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in October 2021, representatives of public organizations reported a shortage of native language textbooks in schools in Kabardino-Balkaria. The publisher of the textbooks explained at the time that it was decided to replace the old-style native language textbooks with new ones.

Participants in the meeting in Nalchik voiced ways to preserve ethnic languages

Appeal to the head Kabardino-Balkaria Kazbek Kokov was published on December 27 on the website of the Kabardino-Balkarian Regional Human Rights Center. The author of the appeal, the organization's chairman Valery Khatazhukov, noted that the human rights center twice this year (July 28 and October 13) contacted the republic's Minister of Education and Science "with a request to provide statistical data on the number of students in secondary educational institutions of Kabardian and Balkar ethnic groups who chose Russian as their native language" following the adoption of amendments to the Law "On Education" in 2018.

The requested data is missing from the responses received.

"However, unfortunately, the requested data is missing from the responses received. Meanwhile, this information is publicly available, and the Kabardino-Balkarian Ministry of Education is obliged to provide it upon first request," the appeal states.

Previously, obtaining such data was not difficult, Khatazhukov noted. "On October 1, 2019, at a public meeting in Kabardino-Balkaria dedicated to this issue, Marina Mizova, a representative of the Kabardino-Balkarian Ministry of Education, stated that in the 2018-2019 school year, 1,015 Circassian (Kabardinian) and 317 Balkar children (1.52% and 2.46% of all students, respectively) chose Russian as their native language instead of Circassian (Kabardinian) and Balkar," he noted.

However, the Ministry of Education's responses to inquiries "lacked the information we were looking for," the human rights activist emphasized. "Specifically, how many students of Kabardian and Balkar ethnicity have chosen Russian as their native language from 2018 to the present? And their failure to report this should be interpreted as further confirmation of the concerns of Kabardino-Balkarian public representatives regarding the deterioration of the situation with education in native languages in the republic in recent years," the appeal states.

209 children were pressured to abandon the study of their native languages.

There is a possibility of "pressure on children and their parents" of Kabardian and Balkar ethnicity to force them to choose Russian as their native language, the document states. "A similar incident has already occurred in a school in the city of Nalchik. In December 2017, a survey of students was conducted at Gymnasium No. […], after which 209 children were forced under pressure to abandon the study of their native languages in high school. Their illegal intentions were not realized at the time, facing a negative public reaction," Khatazhukov noted.

The Human Rights Center called on Kokov "to oblige the Ministry of Education of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic to provide us with specific information on the number of students of Kabardian and Balkar ethnicity who have chosen Russian as their native language from 2018 to the present."

The Ministry of Education cited a lack of complete data on the students.

A copy of the Ministry of Education's response to Valery's appeal, dated October 28, 2025, is attached to the publication. Khatazhukov, dated October 13, 2025.

"The presentation of data on students' choice of native language based on the student's nationality, as well as on the choice of Kabardian and Balkar students to study Russian as their native language, is impossible due to the fact that statistical reporting data provides information on the number of students studying a particular language without reference to the child's nationality," the document states.

At the same time, conducting an additional inquiry on the choice of native language based on students' nationality is not possible "under the conditions of requirements to reduce the bureaucratic burden on educational organizations," the ministry stated.

Refusal to study national languages threatens youth radicalization

As a reminder, in January 2019, residents of the Shovgenovsky district of Adygea demanded an increase in the number of Adyghe language lessons in the republic's schools. They believe children are forgetting their native language in a Russian-speaking environment, and their families are unable to fill this gap. Residents of the republic interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" supported the appeal of their fellow countrymen.

In December 2019, participants in the conference "Problems of Preserving and Developing the Languages of the Peoples of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic" demanded mandatory study of native languages. They stated that schools are not provided with textbooks in their native languages, and many teachers are poorly trained. Conference participants called for the repeal of the 2018 amendments to the education law that mandated the voluntary study of native languages.

On March 11, 2020, the State Duma adopted amendments to the Russian Constitution, including the concept of the Russian language as the "language of the state-forming people", which sparked discontent among historians and ethnographers in Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan, and Adygea.

The provision on the "state-forming people" will deprive all other peoples of state protection, suggested staff at the Kabardino-Balkarian Institute of Humanitarian Research. "We affirm that all peoples of the Russian Federation, without exception, are state-forming," reads a statement from KBIGI employees, full text of which was published on the "Caucasian Knot."