The Issue of Higher Education for Minorities in Slovakia in the Materials of the Government Council of the Slovak Socialist Republic for Nationalities in the 1970s.
The Issue of Higher Education for Minorities in Slovakia in the Materials of the Government Council of the Slovak Socialist Republic for Nationalities in the 1970s.

Summary/Abstract: The first part of the study focuses on the establishment and operation of the Government Council of the SSR for Nationalities (minorities) and the changes that took place in the Council in the 1970s. The second part of the study deals with issues of higher education for minorities in the SR through the materials of the Government Council of the SSR for Nationalities during this period. The Government Council of the SSR for Nationalities was an advisory body. Its role was to professionally review the materials and decisions submitted to the Government, to participate in the preparation of laws and measures of the Government concerning nationalities, and to submit to the Government and its bodies initiatives for the management of the economic, social and cultural life of nationalities. The preparation of materials was provided through standing working committees, temporary working groups and the expertise of research and science institutes. The first Council meetings indicated a more positive intent towards their work. However, their later activity was marked by Normalization. Thus, expectations of the Government Council of the SSR for Nationalities were not fulfilled. It was originally expected that the Council and their standing and temporary committees would be comprehensively and systematically preparing measures to address minority problems, initiate solutions, legislative standards, and so on. However, the Council gradually became the official appendage of the Normalization mechanism of power. In October 1971, changes were made to the composition of the Government Council of the SSR for Nationalities, following previous Normalization resolutions passed by the Communist Party bodies. A notable change was that the new Council composition reflected new Normalization tendencies. People who had been in some way discredited in the previous periods, primarily for political reasons resulting in occupation by Warsaw Pact troops in 1968, were removed. Regarding the further activities of the Council, changes were brought about by the Normalization process. The Council's activities were limited to a formal, bureaucratic mechanism for reviewing reports on the development of individual nationally mixed regions. The Council completely stopped the development of legislative standards and the anticipated further regulations to further develop the Act on Nationalities.

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