The Moldovan Helsinki Committee for Human Rights announced at a news conference on Tuesday that about 50 Romanian-speaking schools in Transnistria which study in the Cyrillic script would switch to the Latin script.

The chairman of the Helsinki Committee, Stefan Uratu said that many teachers and parents of students studying at those schools had contacted him in the past 11 years. "They asked us to bid before international organisations and help them turn to education in Romanian. They realise very well that the studies based on the Cyrillic script and Soviet curricula do not have any perspective. If they continue this way, their children will be unable to pursue higher studies anywhere in Moldova or around the world," Uratu stated.

Teachers from these institutions, he continued, secretly teach the students in Romanian, based on the Latin script, and use the handbooks published in Chisinau. However, the curricula are imposed by the secessionist authorities and Transnistrian inspectors visit these schools from time to time, he specified.

According to the Moldovan Education Ministry, there are 48 Romanian-speaking schools that use the Cyrillic spelling in the Transnistrian region.