The youth movement “Urmașii lui Ștefan” (“Stephan’s Followers”) challenges the name of the history subject taught in Moldova’s schools. Representatives of the association said both the name, History of Romanians, and the content of the program of study are discriminatory. In a news conference at IPN, the movement’s chairman Dumitru Roibu said that a petition was filed to the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality.
Dumitru Roibu made reference to the data of the last population census of 2014, saying that of the 2.8 million people surveyed, 2 million said they are Moldovans. The children and families of another ethnic origin than Romanian are also discriminated by the name and content of the “History of Romanians”. The students are forced to study the national history from the angle of Romanianism,” stated Dumitru Roibu. According to the activist, the history teachers can also be considered discriminated as they can have a different approach to the taught subject.
Dumitru Roibu noted the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other documents are violated.
The chairman of the youth movement “Stephan’s Followers” said he analyzed the history textbooks for fourth graders and established that the word “Moldovan” in this book is met for eight times, while “Romanian” in different forms for 92 times. “In Romania, the taught subject is called History. The Republic of Moldova is the only country in which the name of the history subject contains the name of an ethnic group – History of Romanians,” stated Dumitru Roibu.
University professor Vadim Moldovan said the young people do not have the own beliefs and this is the most serious aspect. As they are told at school that they are not Moldovan, but Romanian, they have an oscillating attitude to the history subject.
Movement member Vladislav Railean, who recently graduated from a lyceum, said he didn’t feel well when he was obliged to study the “History of Romanians” instead of the history of Moldova. “I felt discriminated and I can say that I remained with richer knowledge of the history of Romanians and with less knowledge of the history of Moldova. I would like the history of our country, the history of Moldova, to be taught in our schools,” said the young man.
