Senator PSD Liviu Pop, former Minister of Education, rejected the criticisms of UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor related to an Emergency Ordinance that states that Romanian can be taught in Romanian language classes only by Romanian language teachers, not by the primary school teachers.

“This law spoken by Mr. Kelemen Hunor, in fact the article referenced by many, is a regulation that can be applied to the benefit of the student in his education. The solution for teaching Romanian language by qualified teachers is a very simple one. The teacher together with the Romanian language and literature teacher can keep the class together”, Pop wrote on Saturday, on Facebook, according to Agerpres.

The issue of teaching the Romanian language in minority classes is extremely sensitive, and political sources told G4Media.ro that its failure to resolve this issue could lead to breaking the parliamentary cooperation agreement between PSD and UDMR.

Pop, also known for his radical positions, referred to the merger between UMF Târgu Mureş and Petru Maior University, stating that the two senates decided the merger “on the basis of the autonomy of the universities”.

“They have formed the largest university of medicine in the country that has the opportunity to accommodate study programs in the field of engineering and socio-human sciences with medical programs. Politics can not oppose the autonomy of universities. Beyond all the grievances, I think we should continue to make a school policy, and not politics in school”, Pop added, quoted by Agerpres.

UDMR chairman Kelemen Hunor had requested last week the reshuffling of Education Minister Valentin Popa, referring to the main issue the ordinance regarding the teaching of Romanian language in schools with mother tongue teaching as well as the UMF fusion in Târgu Mureş with Petru Maior University. He said he spoke with the representatives of the coalition about the education ordinance.

“We met and spoke in this period of two weeks since the parliamentary session began on a single subject, about the article that was introduced by the Minister of Education back in August, in the simple ordinance on education and the Law of Education and which forces the teaching of the language and Romanian literature in an unprofessional way and returns to a time that we have overcome. Because this problem was once a political problem, there was a political debate, but we overcame it. Now it’s a matter of specialty. And he, for various reasons, out of frustration, from I don’t know what other reasons, introduced this article, which cannot be applied and neither is correct, damages the interests of the students. 53,000 children are affected, the interests of teachers who have the specialization of teaching Romanian language and literature in the beginning classes and so on. It was the only topic we discussed”, said Kelemen Hunor.

Source: G4Media