RN-Purneftegaz (part of Rosneft’s oil and gas production complex) summarised the results of a grant competition for scientific, practical, educational and research projects aimed at solving social issues of the indigenous peoples of the North living in the Purovsky District of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. The project on the development of teaching materials for teaching the Forest Nenets language to children, submitted by the National Research University Higher School of Economics, won the competition.

The project includes the development of a textbook and a simulator for online learning, as well as the production of a reading book and a practical workbook for younger grades.

The Forest Nenets language is characterised by a complex system of rules for constructing and changing words. It is planned to develop a methodological base, test questions and answers with the participation of linguists, on the basis of which teachers will be able to formulate tasks of different levels of difficulty. The online tutor will help children with their homework and practice declension and conjugation forms for correct word formation.

The Forest Nenets language is currently endangered and is spoken by about a thousand people. The Forest Nenets language is very different from the Tundra Nenets language spoken by the majority of Yamal’s indigenous people. The RN-Purneftegaz grant project aims to preserve the unique language and national identity of the Forest Nenets.

With the support of RN-Purneftegaz, a project to develop the practice of preparing children for school directly where the families live — in nomadic kindergartens — has already been successfully implemented. Based on the results of a scientific study conducted by the Yakut branch of the Federal Institute of Native Languages, a collection of methodological materials entitled «Trends in Nomadic Education» has been compiled. It includes development programmes in the Nenets language, unique practices and lesson plans for the pre-school education of children from nomadic groups of northern peoples. Teachers working in nomadic kindergartens in the district have also been trained. The project has made it possible to choose new forms and methods of organising pre-school education for children from nomadic families.

One of the key areas of Rosneft’s social policy is the preservation of the national culture of the indigenous peoples of the North and their traditional way of life. The Company’s enterprises implement numerous social projects in their regions of operation, developing infrastructure in northern villages, supporting reindeer herding families, and improving the material and technical base of educational institutions and social and medical facilities in the ancestral homelands of indigenous minorities.

Department of Information and Advertising
Rosneft
February 11, 2025

Keywords: Social news 2025