Ukrainian child forced to sing Russian song Kalinka during music lesson in Finland – Yle
An 11-year-old girl of Ukrainian origin was forced to sing the Russian song Kalinka during a music lesson at a school in the Finnish city of Espoo. The incident has provoked outrage from the child's mother and the Ukrainian community, once again raising concerns about the normalisation of Russian culture in Finland.
Source: Finnish public broadcaster Yle
Details: The incident took place at Storängen School in Espoo. According to Iryna Gorkun-Silen, a musician and the girl's mother, her 11-year-old daughter Nicole, who was born in Finland, said that the teacher was introducing the class to Russian culture during a music lesson. All the students were required to sing the song Kalinka.
Quote: "Nicole refused, explaining that she was Ukrainian and did not want to use Russian. The teacher told her 'war is not discussed at school'."
Details: Gorkun-Silen said the child had understood that she would have got a bad mark if she had refused to do the task and therefore felt forced to sing, which became a deeply traumatic experience for her.
"What if there had been a Ukrainian child in the class whose parents had been killed by Russians?" the mother asked rhetorically.
She also said she was surprised that the introduction to world musical cultures began specifically with Russian, calling it an example of normalising the aggressor. The situation was made even more cynical by the fact that Kalinka gained global fame through performances by the Soviet Army Choir – a powerful symbol of Soviet and now modern Russian militaristic ideology.
Ellinor Hellman, the school principal, refused to comment on the case, offering only a formal statement that the school follows the national curriculum and that teachers are encouraged to respond thoughtfully to students' questions, taking into account the needs of the whole group.
Meanwhile, the Finnish National Agency for Education acknowledged that in the context of war, certain material can trigger strong emotions. The agency's lawyer, Heidi Ruonala, noted that teachers have pedagogical freedom and flexibility to offer alternative tasks.
This incident has proved to be only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to systemic issues faced by Ukrainians in Finland. Vasyl Hutsul, Chairman of the Ukrainian Association in Finland, said the community was "deeply saddened" and that the situation raises questions about the appropriateness of promoting Russian culture in schools.
Members of the Ukrainian community said the problem is much broader: most services for Ukrainian refugees are provided in Russian, there are almost no Finnish language courses with Ukrainian translation and Russian translators are often used instead of Ukrainian ones.
"Even though Ukrainians understand Russian and can speak it, it is traumatic for us because it is the language of those who are killing Ukrainians right now. This is not obvious to Finns," Gorkun-Silen said.
Eilina Gusatinsky, an expert at Cultura Foundation, stressed that Russian is not a neutral language for Ukrainians – it is a language of violence, war and centuries of Russification.
Quote from Gusatinsky: "The Russian language carries historical and symbolic weight – the traces of Russification and the suppression of Ukrainian identity. Without understanding this, it is easy to unintentionally reproduce the old colonial model, where Ukrainian culture once again ends up in the shadow of the so-called common post-Soviet space."
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