MAHILEU, Belarus -- The number of students in the only Belarusian-language class in the eastern Belarusian city of Mahileu has risen to three, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports.
The class initially had just one student, Yalinka Salauyova, whose parents insisted on her right to classes in Belarusian. Yalinka's mother, Nadzeya, told RFE/RL that two more children, Alyaksey and Lyuba Ulasau, joined the class on October 11.
"They are not from Mahileu, they are from the town of Chavusy" about 40 kilometers away, Nadzeya said. "Their parents learned about the existence of the only class in Belarusian from an advertisement and decided to bring their children to this school so that they could receive their education in Belarusian."
Russian and Belarusian are both official languages in Belarus, but the use of Russian predominates in most parts of the country.
The class initially had just one student, Yalinka Salauyova, whose parents insisted on her right to classes in Belarusian. Yalinka's mother, Nadzeya, told RFE/RL that two more children, Alyaksey and Lyuba Ulasau, joined the class on October 11.
"They are not from Mahileu, they are from the town of Chavusy" about 40 kilometers away, Nadzeya said. "Their parents learned about the existence of the only class in Belarusian from an advertisement and decided to bring their children to this school so that they could receive their education in Belarusian."
Russian and Belarusian are both official languages in Belarus, but the use of Russian predominates in most parts of the country.