According to the results of the meeting between political representatives of the sides held today in Tiraspol the participants visited public educational institution “D. Kantemir Republican Moldavian Theoretical Lyceum” with Moldovan Cyrillic as a language of tuition, as well as non-government educational institution “L. Blaga Theoretical Lyceum”, with Romanian as a language of tuition.
Nina Shtanski and Yevgeny Karpov spoke to school directors, got acquainted with the particularities of the process of education, as well as amenities of the schools.
The members of the representative delegation saw significant differences in conditions provided for students. Particularly, in the L. Blaga Lyceum there was no sports hall for the children and canteen. “The children have no opportunity to do sports and to have food (the canteen was changed into the library), there is a counter where one can buy plain rolls, but there are no facilities where children can wash their hands, and this is wrong,”- Nina Shtanski said with regret. In turn, the Minister of Education invited to discuss the issue of providing opportunities for children by the neighbor Pridnestrovian school where there is a sports hall and a canteen which, according to her, can be available for the children from the Romanian school.
After visiting the schools, the PMR's Foreign Minister commented to the mass media on her mixed emotions of what she had seen. She expressed her satisfaction with the very fact of visiting schools which, it should be recalled, took place at the Pridnestrovian side's initiative, and at the same time her regret in connection with the absence of amenities in the L. Blaga Lyceum, as well as the climate there.
“I am very glad that we have visited those schools, and I am very glad that we have visited exactly this school. Attitudes we have seen differ very much in these schools. I say this with great regret because whatever political issues, the main thing is that these children are from Pridnestrovie, they live here, they do not come from anywhere. We asked the children studying there in Romanian language where they were from. Indeed, few of them are from Tiraspol, but meanwhile many of them come from Grigoriopol and Slobodzeya regions,”- informed Nina Shtanski. “Our children and their parents decided that they should study in Romanian language, this is the right of everyone. In any Pridnestrovian school if parents wish the children may study in Romanian language, there are facultative classes,”- the Minister added.
The PMR's Foreign Minister expressed her regret in connection with the politicized and emotional approach of Ivan Iovchev, the Director of the Lyceum, in a dialogue with diplomats. “Many emotions, I understand the nature of these emotions, but when we want to solve an issue, the tone must be reduced a little because aggression helped no one and will help no one here,”- said Nina Shtanski. However she noted that “the way the political representative of Moldova and I communicate with each other is somewhat different”, therefore the diplomats will try to find the solution.
Nina Shtanski also informed about the Pridnestrovian side's willingness to take into consideration the opportunity to provide assistance to the school in improving its amenities. The PMR's Minister of Education Svetlana Fadeeva, in turn, promised to mediate between L. Blaga and D. Kantemir Lyceums. “There is a Pridnestrovian school nearby; we found out that there was a time when these two schools used to cooperate; today, however, for some reason, there is no cooperation between them <…> Kids will be kids, sports competitions between schools, some common events are always held, I think teachers should focus on this, but not on the policy. Let them leave the policy issues to me and Mr. Karpov,”- said the Foreign Minister. She also emphasized that “politeness, mutual communicational culture, kind attitude toward each other” should help to solve problems related to the functioning of Moldovan schools in Pridnestrovie.
