As part of the RN-Purnegaz grant project (part of Rosneft’s oil and gas production complex), scientists from the Faculty of Humanities at the Higher School of Economics have developed teaching materials on the Forest Nenets language. The project’s objective is to safeguard the national cultures and traditional way of life of the indigenous peoples of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.

In collaboration with teachers and activists involved in the movement to safeguard national culture, linguists at the university have developed teaching materials on the Forest Nenets language for primary school children, a workbook of practical exercises and a language trainer. The teaching materials are now available online. Furthermore, following the approval of the materials by the relevant departments, it is planned that they will be published and used in the educational process at national boarding schools.

The Forest Nenets language is very different from the Tundra Nenets language spoken by the majority of Yamal’s indigenous people. The total number of speakers of the «forest» language is currently estimated at around one thousand. The population is stable, but the number of native speakers is declining due to the use of textbooks written in the Tundra Nenets language, which is not native to the Forest Nenets, in educational institutions. This book, which has been developed for reading in the Forest Nenets language, will help to solve the problem of the lack of literature.

The Forest Nenets language is characterised by a complex system of rules for forming and changing words. An online trainer for declensions and conjugations will help children learn proper word formation. Students will have the opportunity to complete homework assignments and take online tests on how to form words correctly.

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, social and medical institutions in the ancestral homelands of indigenous minorities.

With the support of RN-Purneftegaz, a project to prepare children for school directly where the families live — in nomadic kindergartens — has already been successfully implemented. A collection of methodological materials entitled «Trends in Nomadic Education» was compiled, which included developmental programmes in the Nenets language, unique practices and lesson plans for the pre-school education of children from nomadic groups.

Department of Information and Advertising
Rosneft
November 7, 2025

Keywords: Social news 2025