Human rights subject not yet in schools owing to shortage of funds

The initiative of Amnesty International Moldova to work out a textbook and train the teachers for a new school subject within the project “I Have the Right to Know My Rights” remains on paper as there are no financial resources. “We signed the cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Education last November. The implementation of the project did not start owing to a shortage of funds,” AI Moldova executive director Cristina Pereteatcu told a news conference. The new subject was to be introduced in September 2011. The Ministry of Education argues that the school program is already overloaded. “About €60,000 is needed to implement this project – to print textbooks and train the teachers. The Ministry of Education informed us that they do not have the necessary financial resources, but the Government of Moldova may ask international organizations to finance the project,” said Cristina Pereteatcu. The new school subject on human rights is intended for seventh-eighth graders. Amnesty International is an international human rights organization that started work in Moldova in 1993. The project “I Have the Right to Know My Rights” was initiated in December 2005.