The Ministry of Education of Moldova published a schedule of undergraduate exams. They are scheduled for the period July 3-17, 2020. The results of the exams, according to the report, will be announced on July 26. Earlier, on May 21, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova abolished the final exam due to the COVID-19 epidemic for graduates of lyceums and colleges of Moldova. The exception was students with debts or poor grades, as well as students from Pridnestrovie who had to pass the exam after the ''zero'' course at the university. Thus, in the pandemic, several hundred Pridnestrovian students are threatened with infection.
Back in May, at a meeting of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, Minister of Education Igor Sharov has said that the session would be organized as soon as the coronavirus epidemic ended and there would be no danger to students. Meanwhile, in Moldova, the epidemic is gaining momentum again – the number of cases COVID-19 updates records every day. It is not clear, why in these conditions the Ministry of Education of the neighboring country decided to hold the exam. There is another important moment: young Pridnestrovians are at risk.
Chisinau avoiding the subject
The day before, this topic was raised by the representatives of Pridnestrovie at the meeting of expert (working) groups on education. The report of the PMR MFA states that the Moldovan side's requirement to pass exams is discriminatory. The final exam for students from Moldova is canceled not to endanger students from Moldova. But on Pridnestrovians, such care of RM officials does not apply. Moreover, according to Pridnestrovie, our graduates should not, in principle, pass repeated final exams, since they have already received a certificate of general education in the PMR.
However, instead of trying to find a solution to the problem, the representatives of Moldova switched to another topic and began to speculate on the functioning of Romanian-language schools in the territory of Pridnestrovie. It should be noted that this problem was solved two years ago. But Chisinau continues to politicize the issue, ignoring current problems in the field of education.
Students are outraged
Meanwhile, Pridnestrovian students of the RM universities are seriously concerned about the fact that they will have to pass the exam in the conditions of the ongoing epidemic of coronavirus.
''The epidemiological situation in the country still is not stable, and there is no guarantee of its stabilization by mid-summer. And thus, you (the RM Ministry of Education) endangers the lives of several hundred children!'' – Yana V., a student of one of the Moldovan universities, is indignant.
According to her, the absolute majority of the Pridnestrovian students lived in Chisinau dormitories. Now they'll have to go back there again. ''From the beginning of the exams to the announcement of the results it will take about 20 days (from July 2 to 26), all the students living in the dormitories will be at risk of infection,'' the student notes.
On the eve Moldova has recorded almost 300 cases of COVID-19. This is the highest number of people infected per day during the epidemic in the country. The failure of quarantine measures, a new outbreak of disease, and the inability of the authorities to take control of the situation are spoken not only by the media but also by senior officials in the Republic of Moldova Government. There is a terrifying increase in the number of infected medical personnel (about 20% of the total) and the number of deaths. At the same time, there are regular scandals on the topic of conditions of detention and attitudes towards patients in RM hospitals.
What is the goal of Moldovan officials?
At such a moment when Moldova was overwhelmed by a new wave of coronavirus disease, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Moldova fixes the dates of exams. What is this: officials’ incompetence, targeted discrimination against the people of Pridnestrovie, or another provocation? It is possible that in the light of Moldova's attempts to accuse Pridnestrovie of the so-called restriction of freedom of movement, the situation with exams was created artificially.
Chisinau interprets the quarantine measures of the Pridnestrovian leadership taken at the border to contain the epidemic in its own way and gives them a political color. And it seems that the Moldovan authorities decided to use young residents of Pridnestrovie in their cynical games. The logic is primitive: to oblige students to pass the exams, expecting that the Operational Headquarters of Pridnestrovie will not allow them to leave for Moldova, motivated by the outbreak of the epidemic. Then it will be possible to declare a violation of human rights in Pridnestrovie loudly. But the fact that a large number of Pridnestrovian students may get coronavirus does not seem to care for the Moldovan authorities.
