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PO Box 1302  Strathfield  2135  NSW  Australia        Welcome to our website!

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Mr. John Aquilina, MP
Minister for Education and Training
Level 2, 35 Bridge Street,
SYDNEY  N.S.W. 2000
fax: (02) 9561 8185

RUSSIAN LANGUAGE in State Education Syllabus

Unless HSC Russian language studies are retained in the ZUnit, 2 Unit and 3 Unit format, it is clear that many Australian school students - including the children and grandchildren of Russian migrants - may never have the opportunity to learn the Russian language at all.

This would be a tragic outcome for a government promoting a so-called multicultural society. It will also be seen as a  government denying a community its cultural heritage and basic human rights of learning the language of their ancestors.

Replacing these subjects with the one Background Speakers course will be extremely demanding and will only be suitable for students who have completed or almost completed their secondary education in Russian.

We call upon the Minister to reverse the Government's decision in the interest of giving all Australian students, including children of Russian parents, the chance to learn Russian.

Yours sincerely,

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