Romanian minister: Ukraine will keep minority schools open

BUCHAREST, Romania – Romania’s foreign minister says Ukraine has pledged not to close Romanian language schools under a new education law that has also caused alarm in Russia and Hungary.

Teodor Melescanu said Friday Ukraine had promised: “no Romanian school will be closed … and no teachers in a Romanian school will be fired.”

Melescanu said students would be educated in their mother tongue and also learn Ukrainian language, literature, history and geography.

Ukraine’s education law passed last month specifies that Ukrainian will be the main language used in schools, rolling back the option for lessons to be taught in other languages.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin insisted Ukraine wasn’t discriminating against ethnic minorities, saying the law was designed to give them language skills so they were competitive on the labour market and in public life.