Numerous high schools with teaching in Romanian in the Chernivtsi region, Ukraine, will disappear as of September 1, 2027, as a result of the restructuring of the education system, the responsible secretary of the Inter-regional Union "Romanian Community in Ukraine", Aurica Bojescu, told Agerpres on Tuesday.
According to the same source, the Chernivtsi Regional Council approved the new network of high schools in the region, which provides for only four high schools with teaching in Romanian and nine mixed ones.
The four high schools with teaching in Romanian will operate in the city of Chernivtsi, as well as in the rural towns of Hliboca, Ostrita and Herta. This educational reform has raised concerns in the Romanian community in the Chernovtsy region.
"There are now 32 high schools, 12 are mixed, with two languages, and of the 20 Romanian high schools, only four will remain. There will be children who will have nothing to do, if they want to complete their studies, and to go to college, than to study elsewhere, in Ukrainian high schools. The children do not have much of a choice. Either you go elsewhere, or you stop studying. (...) It is a very difficult situation. Someone must definitely take measures," said Bojescu, who claims that the leaders of the Romanian community have requested that one high school remain in each Romanian rural town.
The decision of the Chernivtsi Regional Council to close numerous Romanian high schools comes despite opposition from the Romanian community, which draws attention to the violation of the right to education in the mother tongue for ethnic Romanians.
"This reform will also lead to the disappearance of secondary schools in the future, because in some localities, high schools will only be taught in Ukrainian, and then parents will no longer send their children to secondary schools in Romanian, but to Ukrainian ones, so that it will be easier for them to continue their studies. More than in those mixed high schools, such as those in Mahala, teaching will be done in Ukrainian, and Romanian will be taught only in the subject matters of Romanian Language and Romanian and Universal Literature. There is also the risk of the language disappearing when the school in the mother tongue disappears. This is a violation of the Constitution of Ukraine and human rights, which guarantees all citizens learning in their mother tongue," says Neculai Costas, a teacher of Romanian language and literature at a secondary school in Chernivtsi.
The new normative act will determine the closure of some high schools in historical Romanian villages such as Mahala, Taraseni, Noua Sulita, Hliboca, Crasna, Patrauti, Storojinet or Mamaliga. Also, there will be no high schools with teaching in Romanian in the villages of the Siret Valley.
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