There is no consensus on whether to allow the citizens of Belarus, Abkhazia and South Ossetia to not take Russia’s mandatory comprehensive exam for labor migrants, yet, the exam authors said.
“There is no doubt that the citizens of these countries should be exempt from the Russian language exam. The question is whether they should be exempt from the modules on the history of Russia and the basics of the law,” said Vice-rector of the Russian Peoples’ Friendship University, one of the authors of the exam for migrants Anzhela Dolzhnikova on Wednesday during a hearing in the Public Chamber.
According to her, the debate about whether Belarusians, the Abkhazians and Ossetians should take the Russian language exam continue, and there is no consensus on this issue yet. Ms Dolzhnikova noted that opponents of the complete abolition of the complex exam argue that the inhabitants of these countries have different history taught to them and they should be reminded about the laws of the Russian Federation, interfax.by reports.
“We analyzed the history books of our neighboring countries in the framework of preparation for this exam. And the result of this analysis showed that in most textbooks of our colleagues and neighbors of the Post-Soviet countries our joint stay within the USSR is treated very ambiguously and not in Russia’s favor. There are odious things that are present in these books, but it’s debatable,” said Ms Dolzhnikova.
It is expected that the bodies of the Russian authorities developing amendments to the regulations on comprehensive exams will receive a package of recommendations based on the results of the discussions in the Public Chamber.
The Senator of the annexed Sevastopol, Andrey Sobolev, proposed to lower the exam requirements bar for citizens of the Eurasian Economic Union.
All the foreigners who want to legally settle in Russia for work are reqired to take a comprehensive exam for migrants from 1 January 2015. The exam consists of three modules – the Russian language, Russian history and the basics of Russian legislation.
interfax.by, belsat.eu/en/
