Romania asks Ukraine to respect the right of the Romanian minority to education in their mother tongue

The Ministry of Education and Research of our country announced that Minister Daniel David sent an official letter to his Ukrainian counterpart, in which he requests respect for the rights of the Romanian minority in Ukraine and maintaining access to education in their mother tongue. The initiative comes against the backdrop of the Ukrainian educational reform which, according to the Romanian communities in the Chernivtsi region, could lead to the disappearance of high schools with full teaching in Romanian starting with 2027. "The Minister of Education and Research of Romania, Daniel David, expresses his concern regarding the recent information published in the media regarding the implementation of educational reform measures in Ukraine, at the level of the high school cycle, with an impact on education with teaching in Romanian in the Chernivtsi region," the press release issued by the Ministry of Education states. According to the cited source, the Romanian minister insisted on the need to respect the right to education in the mother tongue, in accordance with the international commitments undertaken by Ukraine, including through the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (Council of Europe, 1995) and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Daniel David also proposed organizing bilateral consultations between the two ministries, offering Romania's expertise in the field of multilingual education and the protection of the rights of national minorities, an internationally appreciated field.

• Call for dialogue and mutual respect

"We want to promote a constructive dialogue with the Ukrainian authorities. The experience of the Ministry of Education and Research shows that only solutions based on dialogue, public consultation and respect for the needs of each community determine the success of any educational reform process," said Minister Daniel David. He added that he understood the difficulties related to reforming a vast educational system, but stressed that restructuring decisions should not limit the exercise of the right to education of ethnic Romanians in Ukraine. The alarm was raised a week ago by Aurica Bojescu, secretary of the Interregional Union "Romanian Community of Ukraine", who declared that, following the decision of the Chernivtsi Regional Council, only four high schools with teaching in Romanian and nine mixed high schools will remain in operation from 2027. "Numerous high schools with full teaching in Romanian will disappear. It is a major loss for the identity and cohesion of our community", warned Bojescu. The issue of education of Romanian minorities in Ukraine has also generated tensions in previous years, especially after the adoption of the 2017 Education Law, which gradually limited teaching in the languages of national minorities after the 4th grade. Romania has repeatedly requested to ensure equal access to education in their mother tongue for the approximately 400,000 ethnic Romanians in Ukraine, concentrated in the Chernivtsi, Transcarpathia and Odessa regions. Minister Daniel David's letter comes at a time when Ukraine is in the midst of a European integration process, and respecting minority rights is one of the conditions imposed by Brussels for opening accession negotiations.