2,000 children study at Transnistrian schools that use Latin script

More than 2,000 children study at the Transnistrian schools that teach in Romanian using the Latin script. These schools employ 270 teachers. The curriculum at these institutions is identical with the one used on the right bank of the Nistru, while the school maintenance costs are covered by the Ministry of Education of Moldova, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a press club meeting, Valentin Crudu, head of the Education Ministry’s General Preschool, Primary and Secondary Education Division, said that eight Romanian language teaching schools accredited by the Ministry work on the left bank of the Nistru. The Ministry provides them with free transport for children so as to make them more attractive. The students also benefit from gratis lunch, while the teachers receive a salary bonus of 20%. “The students at the five lyceums and three secondary schools study based on the program worked out by the Education Ministry. They are hard-working and all of them passed the Baccalaureate exam,” stated Valentin Crudu. But the schools also face problems. In Rybnitsa, the Moldovan authorities erected a building that was to become a school, but it was devastated by the Transnistrian authorities and 200 children have to study in a kindergarten that is rented by the Education Ministry. Children from 17 settlements study at the lyceum in Dubasari because they are unable to study at home. They also encounter difficulties in transporting books in Latin script through the checkpoints set up along the Nistru. The constitutional authorities hope that things in education will change after the negotiations held this year. “Education is in the agendas of all the working groups. We ensure the equality of chances for the children studying in Cyrillic script by issuing diplomas that allow continuing the studies. I can say that in the field of education, we took a first step towards ensuring the equality of chances,” said Valentin Crudu. About 40 million lei is allocated annually for maintaining the education institutions teaching in Romanian in Transnistria.