Rights of 'Moldovan language' in Transnistria infringed

The Union of Moldovans of Transnistria asks the Transnistrian ministry of education to open a center for developing the 'Moldovan language'. According to representatives of the Union, the rights of what they call the Moldovan language in the Transnistrian region, where there are three official languages, are violated, Info-Prim Neo’s correspondent in the region reports. In Tiraspol's kindergartens, there are only several Moldovan language-teaching groups. At the start of the 2008-2009 school year, these groups included 53 children, according to official statistics. “The teaching in Moldovan in Transnistria does not meet the modern standards,” said Valerian Tulgara, the chairman of the Union of Moldovans of Transnistria. Dorina Gabuja, the head of the philology faculty of the Education Development Institute in Tiraspol, said that the graduates of Moldovan schools in Transnistria cannot continue their studies in 'Moldovan' in Transnistrian higher education establishments. Therefore, many of them decide to go to Chisinau. When they return, the diplomas are not recognized, Valerian Tulgara said. As well as the government of the Republic of Moldova, the government of the unrecognized republic of Transnistria insists the Moldovans speak the Moldovan language, also called Moldavian. But much of the academic community agrees that the correct name of the language is Romanian, and the distinction was fabricated to emphasize politically the difference between the Republic of Moldova and bordering Romania. To further accentuate differences, the authorities on the left bank of the Nistru use the Cyrillic script, and not the Latin one, for the 'Moldavian language'.