Victor Stepaniuc asserts that Romanian History textbooks promote “the concept of hate”
Romanian History textbooks haven’t been rejected by the pedagogical community, as they were by the Council of Europe, because of their non-objectivity, the concept of hate they promoted as well as because of the untruth they contained. “Everyboby was asking: why do we need Romanian history in the modern Moldovan state?” declared the communist MP, Victor Stepaniuc, the chairman of the Commission on culture, science, education, youth, sports and media.
Stepaniuc declared that all the criticism brought to the Integrated History textbooks for the ninth grade are unfounded. In his opinion the communist totalitarianism is presented harsher than the fascist one. Stepaniuc also said that the opponents of these textbooks are being deranged by the fact that for the first time Romanian ideology is rejected and no other ideology is being promoted except the “idea of the Moldovan nation-state” like the textbooks from other states do. The MP also declared that all the schools of the republic are working on the basis of the new textbooks and that the fact that some schools refused to implement them in their educational process is a total disinformation.
„We should admit that some of these textbooks, the one for the ninth grade especially, contain some gaps, but the teachers may propose ideas for their elimination”, Victor Stepaniuc concluded.
The communist MP’s declaration provoked the protest of several MPs representing the opposition. The Speaker, Marian Lupu didn’t allow them, though, to deliver their speeches, mentioning that the regulation doesn’t provide the right to retort unless a certain person is affected.
Integrated History course was introduced as mandatory in the educational program starting September 1, current year. This decision provoked protests of a range of professors, students, as well as NGOs and political formations. The Historians’ Association of Moldova announced that it will initiate, starting October 11 protest actions against this decision, which will be supported by other organizations of both non-governmental and political status.