Opinion: “Education Held Hostage by Ideology”

The dire state of Moldova’s education system seems to concern the ruling party little – they are far more preoccupied with instilling the 'right' ideological dogmas in the younger generation

Semyon ALBU, RTA: Education and science in our country are among the sectors where crises rage constantly, and decline has become a permanent state of affairs. It’s hard to look at the statistics without tears. Recently, the opposition cited the following numbers: over the past 24 years, the number of general education institutions has dropped by nearly half, while the number of students has shrunk by almost twofold. Around 350 schools lack access to water supply and sewage systems; over half are in need of major repairs, and fewer than half are equipped with modern computer technology. Only a tiny fraction of students enroll in vocational and technical schools, doing little to alleviate the severe labor shortage. Even fewer choose to pursue a career in teaching, further exacerbating the shortage of qualified educators. And so on. The numbers are telling – in just a year and a half since our colleagues last reported on the state of education, several dozen more schools have vanished into oblivion. Is that a lot or a little? For comparison, in 2008, the last “pre-European” year, only four educational institutions were shut down across the country. The difference speaks for itself. Then again, the current regime is both the symbol and the driving force behind an earlier period, between 2012 and 2015, when over 70 schools were closed in just three years. Should we be surprised? Overall, the current leadership of the Ministry of Education faithfully follows the guidance of its ideological guru and has a magic word for every problem: “optimization”. These days, the government blames all the sector’s woes on under-enrolled schools, which have become the target of a full-blown propaganda campaign. Allegedly, they are economically inefficient, provide poor-quality education, and students are fleeing them. What is usually left unsaid is that these schools operate under systematic underfunding, with over 90% of their budgets going solely to teacher salaries, leaving them effectively “bankrupted” and stripped of any prospects for development. This ongoing crusade against provincial schools clearly illustrates the PAS party’s approach to a problem it has no real intention of solving. Raised on Western-European and American “traditions” and educated there, these “yellow pack” view everything with cold cynicism, applying financial metrics where they simply don’t belong. They show no thought or concern for the fact that their “optimizations” will only accelerate the depopulation of rural areas, create demographic imbalances, and trigger a host of other negative consequences. The regime has long since made it abundantly clear, especially in recent times, where its true priorities in education lie. And they have nothing to do with solving problems or pursuing modernization. What we’re really talking about is, of course, the imposition of a very specific ideology. Not only has PAS thinned out the media landscape, redirecting the remaining outlets toward full-scale brainwashing, it has also created a veritable Ministry of Truth, which now wages cognitive warfare in the digital sphere. The “yellow regime” is eager to get into the minds of the younger generation as well by introducing the “correct” historical narratives fitting the current state-sponsored mythology. Since the ruling elite is largely incompetent, the process unfolds awkwardly, head-on, and is riddled with scandals. On the other hand, their total control over all branches of power, the weakness of the opposition, and the ability to rig elections on any scale mean that even such a dim-witted policy will eventually achieve its goal, simply because it faces no resistance and, on the contrary, enjoys support from foreign partners. Children are now being indoctrinated with ideological dogmas as part of a campaign to “erase” the Moldovan language and identity, to impose a Romanian one, and to discredit Russia’s role in the history of Moldova at every opportunity. Take, for example, the 12th-grade history textbook, which has already sparked countless controversies. Most scandalous is the part about Romanian Marshal Antonescu, who, to the astonishment of many, is portrayed in the textbook as seemingly uninvolved in the genocide committed in the Transnistria Governorate. In response, the Jewish community has announced plans to sue the Ministry of Education. Yet, Dan Perciun stubbornly insists the textbook will not be withdrawn and claims there is nothing “dramatic” about its content. But the issue lies not only in the whitewashing of Nazi criminals and Hitler’s collaborators, but also in the denigration of everything associated with the Russian and Soviet past. The fact that, for instance, the Moldavian SSR was vastly ahead of present-day Moldova in terms of industrial output, agriculture, demographics, science, and many other areas is, of course, deliberately ignored, while all negative aspects are exaggerated to the extreme. The period of being part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union is depicted as an occupation, while the 1944 liberation from Romanian-Nazi forces is, accordingly, described as a re-occupation. It is not surprising that on the eve of Victory Day the Ministry of Education issued an order to all schools to screen the film “Siberia on Bones”, including to children for whom it was age-inappropriate, given its 14+ rating. Minister Dan Perciun stated that the Soviet Union’s victory in the war “marked the beginning of occupation… famine, deportations, denationalization, forced Russification and this must be discussed”. Amid the public outcry over the screening of the film, Dan Perciun reiterated, “We will continue to talk about the Soviet occupation” as a “tragic part of our history.” Naturally, it is not only distant historical events that are portrayed in a critical light, but also those much closer to our time. In the same notorious textbook, for instance, the Russian Federation is already designated as a party to the Transnistrian conflict. This claim prompted a sharp response from Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. In other words, the ministry responsible for the education system, like all other state institutions, is deeply involved in implementing the anti-Russian and Russophobic agenda of the PAS government. Hence, Minister Perciun’s clear dissatisfaction with the still considerable presence of Russian-language instruction in Moldovan schools, his intention to prepare new textbooks for the subject History and Culture of the Russian People, and the enormous discontent over the participation of Moldovan teachers in training programs held in Russia, followed by threats of revoking their academic degrees and even dismissals. With such a policy, as you can see, Moldovan education, already riddled with problems, is unlikely to make sufficient progress. But it seems the authorities are not particularly concerned about how many more schools will have to be closed or how many more students will be lost in the coming years. “Optimization” comes first. What truly matters is ensuring that ideological indoctrination is properly established. This, above all, is the chief concern of the PAS regime on this track. P.S. By the way, just recently, despite appeals from organizations and associations representing ethnic minorities, the Agency for Interethnic Relations, which had previously reported directly to the government, was placed under the authority of the Ministry of Education. Any thoughts on the reasons?