Consultations on education between Chisinau and Tiraspol reached deadlock

[Info-Prim Neo article of the series “20 years of the start of the war. When should we expect peace?”] Chisinau and Tiraspol cannot reach a compromise as regards cooperation in the area of education. During over two years, the working group representing Chisinau asked to have over ten meetings with the similar group of Tiraspol, but without results, said Deputy Minister of Education Loreta Handrabura, coordinator of the group on behalf of Chisinau. ”Since I coordinate the working group on education and science, we have asked for more than ten meetings through the agency of the Reintegration Office and with the help of the OSCE. The Transnistrian side refused on different pretexts. We had only one meeting in Germany in September 2011, on the sidelines of the conference on the extended confidence building measures in the Transnistrian conflict settlement process,” said the deputy minister. Loreta Handrabura said the working group of Chisinau aims to examine a series of problems faced in education, including the improvement of the situation of the Transnistrian education institutions that are managed by the Ministry of Education. Among the issues are the renting of buildings, the rent, access to mass media, taking of teaching aids through the checkpoints. There are also such problems as the recognition of the education certificates, accreditation of the Tiraspol University and involvement of the higher education establishments of Transnistria in such projects as TEMPUS, Erasmus Mundus, Jean Monnet, and Youth in Action, in concert with education institutions based on the right side of the Nistru. ”I hope the new Transnistrian administration will be more receptive and will understand the importance of an efficient dialogue on common education problems. The mutually acceptable solutions are for the benefit of the children and students as well as the parents and teachers,” said Loreta Handrabura. This year, the working group of Chisinau intends to make a study of the equipment, programs of study, textbooks and teaching staff of the Transnistrian education institutions, with the support of the Council of Europe Office. The deputy minister stressed the necessity of organizing a training seminar on the recognition of the education certificates and qualifications based on the international practice. Another objective is to open negotiations on the ensuring of bilateral mobility of students and teachers of the education institutions situated on the two sides of the Nistru. A seminar will be held in 2012 to discuss the objectives and advantages of the Bologna process, promote common extracurricular activities, sports competitions, debates and other events. ”The Ministry of Education will be able to achieve the set goals only if the Transnistrian administration is ready to cooperate and if the Reintegration Office contributes to ensuring optimal conditions for supporting the dialogue with the separatist authorities and the education institutions working in the Transnistrian region,” said Loreta Handrabura. The Tiraspol-Chisinau working groups on different areas promote the measures aimed at building confidence and strengthening security between the two sides of the Nistru River. [Irina Turcanu, Info-Prim Neo]