Three organizations representing Romanians in Ukraine are asking Bucharest to protect schools providing instruction in Romanian

Three representative organizations of Romanians in Ukraine are asking the authorities in Bucharest to urgently intervene with Kyiv to amend a draft law that could affect schools providing instruction in Romanian. The memorandum was sent to President Nicușor Dan, acting Foreign Minister Oana Țoiu, and several parliamentary committees.

The Regional Union of Romanians in Transcarpathia “Dacia,” the “Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi” Romanian Cultural Center in Chernivtsi, and the “Basarabia” National-Cultural Association in the Odesa region are calling for guarantees to preserve education in the mother tongue and Romanian identity.

The organizations argue that the draft law, currently undergoing the legislative process in the Verkhovna Rada, does not provide sufficient guarantees for maintaining the network of Romanian schools. On October 6, the Ukrainian Parliament’s Committee on Education, Science and Innovation recommended that the draft be adopted in the first reading and as a whole.

The signatories are asking for Romanian to remain the main language of instruction through the end of high school and vocational education, for the possibility of expanding instruction in Ukrainian at the request of a majority of parents to be removed, and for minority classes to be exempted from the minimum threshold of five students. They are also calling for the protection of the existing network of institutions, Romanian-speaking administrative staff, and measures to revitalize education in communities where it is in decline.

The memorandum cites the Constitution of Ukraine, the 1997 Romanian-Ukrainian Treaty, and recommendations by the Venice Commission concerning the rights of national minorities.