The publishing house Ştiința will not retract its Russian rendition of the national anthem lyrics from a musical education textbook for fifth graders. Mircea Ciobanu, Ştiința’s chief editor, told Radio Europa Liberă that publishers are only required to revise “academic errors”, suggesting that translating the national anthem lyrics for pupils from a linguistic minority doesn’t qualify as one.  

“There is a law which says that the national anthem of Moldova is sung in Romanian, and that law lists the formal occasions when singing it is mandatory. Music classes are not on that list, so no one is violating any law here”, explained Mircea Ciobanu.

According to Ciobanu, even Romanian-speaking pupils find it difficult at this age to fully grasp the tropes of Alexei Mateevici’s “Our Language”, which became the anthem of Moldova in 1995. A translation will only make it easier for Russian-speaking children, argues Ciobanu, especially since they get to study this poem in literature class not until eleventh grade.

“Nothing terrible happens when a poem is translated, even if this poem is the national anthem”, said the Ştiința chief editor, who is also a writer and literary critic.

Ştiința’s textbook decision became viral via a Facebook post by a disgruntled Anenii Noi music teacher. Many netizens also took offense, arguing that the translation of the anthem lyrics, a poem that celebrates the Romanian language, is illustrative of the failure of government policies to promote the learning of Romanian among the ethnic minorities.

The Ministry of Education appeared taken by surprise, saying its approval procedures only covered Romanian-language textbooks and passing responsibility to the publisher. The Ministry said it would request formal clarifications from the publisher.