The National Program for studying the Romanian language free of charge by all members of society, which started to be implemented this year, is an important step towards strengthening the feeling of affiliation to a civic community so as to achieve the common objectives, missions and ideals, writer Ivan Pilkin, vice president of the Writers Union of Moldova, stated in a public debate entitled “Chances of the Romanian language and of Moldova society”, which was staged by IPN News Agency.
“There are a number of factors that explain this lack of interest in studying the Romanian language among adult other-language speakers. But I would like to note from the start that this program for studying the Romanian language is a welcomed, practical, very concrete and well-argued action, with SWOT analysis of different challenges and with pluses in implementing this program. It is not a declarative action,” said Ivan Pilkin.
The writer noted that the goal of the program is clearly explained, especially as regards the challenges that it aims to overcome. “This program is the tip of an iceberg. It opens a number of research, work directions for the improvement of the linguistic situation in the country by polls, studies, communication,” he stated.
Ivan Pilkin considers that if this program is consecutive and during the next five years is implemented at the same energetic pace as when it was launched, the results will be evident. “The media reported that about 10,000 people have enrolled in these courses and most of these are from the municipality of Chisinau. The second place in the rankings is occupied by citizens from the Autonomous Unit of Gagauzia, from Balti and Taraclia. It is a necessary program that requires increased attention from the public administration, from those who manage it,” said the writer.
According to him, this interest already shows that it is a necessary program that should be devoted increased attention by the public authorities. This program is mainly intended for adults and is a program that analyzes the insufficiency of practices for teaching, promoting the Romanian language, the official language in Moldova, and that seeks to be a platform for being included in the circuit of ideas, of civic communication in Moldovan society.
Asked about this program’s chances of being successfully implemented, Ivan Pilkin said he is optimistic about its chances and the program itself is a chance that opens an educational offer to all the Moldovan citizens and this opens the way to the educational system.
The public debate titled “Chances of the Romanian language and of Moldova society” was the 289th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
