History teachers might go on general strike

The history teachers from the Republic of Moldova are against the introduction of the integrated history discipline in the pre-university curriculum. This was announced on Saturday, April 15 at the General Meeting of the history teachers. They warn to go on a general strike in education. At the Meeting, according to the organizers, history teachers from about all the districts of the Republic of Moldova had participated. The president of the Historians’ Association Anatol Petrencu, declared at the end of the Meeting for Info-Prim Neo, that teachers support the present curriculum and decline the integrated history course, because “it is all about a continuous denationalization of our people. This fact made us come together and protest against this actions”, added Petrencu. Historians intend to address a written statement to all diplomatic missions and international organizations. They say if authorities will insist and will follow anyway this direction, they will use the protest method, inclusively going on a general strike starting with September 1. The Meeting approved a resolution that states the actions applied by the communist authorities in the educational field lead to the disorientation of the teachers, parents and pupil’s and public opinion misinformation. According to the quoted source, these actions are generating chaos in the historical education, bring into disrepute the history teachers and provoke aversion for the history disciplines. The resolution demands stopping the course of integrated history, re-establishment of the disciplines for the baccalaureate exams, and quitting the persecution practices. The resolution also condemns the involvement of the political factor into the history education. An appeal to the civil society, of the same Meeting, solicits support for defending the national history and proposes to NGOs to initiate public discussions, referring to the intention of the present government to put down the Romanian History course. In 1995 in Chisinau several protests took place, as a reaction to the attempt of the leadership to change the Romanian History with the Moldavian History course. In the spring of 2002 these attempts of the communist leadership to liquidate the discipline generated other protests that lasted several months. At the protest pupils and students participated massively. Afterwards the integrated history course was introduced, as an experiment, and was taught in several schools from the country. Many historians, teachers and politicians criticised the content of these schoolbooks, Info-Prim Neo informs.