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Romania Language, Education, and Cultural Heritage
Arguably the changes under communism that most
grievously
affected ethnic minorities, especially the Hungarians and
to a
lesser extent the Germans, were those that limited
education in
their native languages. In the first decade of communist
rule,
students could acquire an education at Hungarian-language
schools
from preschool to university and at German-language
schools from
preschool to high school. These schools had their own
administration and a long tradition of humanistic
education; many
were 300 to 500 years old. But already in 1948 some of the
policies
of the new regime had begun to weaken national minority
education.
A purge and "reeducation" of faculty in all educational
institutions was carried out. From that time forward,
important
teaching positions were filled only by teachers deemed
politically
reliable. At the same time, nationalization of all
ecclesiastical
and private schools destroyed the traditionally important
role of
the church in the Hungarian and German educational
systems.
Schools in some communities were merged so that ethnic
Romanians constituted the majority of the student body.
The regime
mandated the teaching of Romanian in all educational
institutions
to "prevent national isolation." Beginning in 1957,
amalgamation of
minority (particularly Hungarian) and Romanian schools
became the
rule rather than the exception. Most of the directors for
the newly
merged schools were ethnic Romanians, whereas Hungarians
or Germans
filled vice-principal or vice-director positions.
The merger of the Hungarian Bolyai University at Cluj
with the
Romanian Babez University in 1959 dealt a major blow to
the
Hungarian-language educational network. Such mergers meant
a larger
enrollment of ethnic Romanians and reduced availability of
Hungarian-language instruction. The party determined what
courses
would be taught in Hungarian; many were of an ideological
bent, and
the more technical courses were taught in Romanian only.
It became
nearly impossible to study any of the applied sciences in
Hungarian, restricting career opportunities for the
Hungarian
minority. The result was a predictable drop in the number
of
Hungarian undergraduates--from 10.75 percent of all
undergraduates
in 1957 to only 5.7 percent in 1974.
Meanwhile education laws introduced in 1973 continued
the
assimilation that had begun with the amalgamation of
minority and
Romanian schools. In keeping with the economic program of
rapid
industrialization, the laws emphasized technical studies
over
humanities. The ratio established was two-thirds technical
to onethird humanities, making it even more difficult for
minorities to
acquire an education in their native language. In 1974
only 1.4
percent of the instruction in technical schools was in
Hungarian.
Technical textbooks were rarely translated into minority
languages.
Thus a technical education, the premier vehicle of upward
mobility,
became possible only for those who had mastered Romanian.
This
requirement and the fact that university entrance exams
were given
only in Romanian increased the pressure on parents to
enroll their
children in Romanian-language schools.
Instruction in Hungarian was further hampered by an
acute
shortage of Hungarian-language teachers and language
experts;
"internal regulations" assigned Hungarian university
graduates to
work outside their communities--usually out of
Transylvania. The
use of minority languages was restricted in the cultural
arena as
well. Local libraries persistently lacked literature in
minority
languages. After 1973, Hungarian-language newspaper
publishing was
sharply curtailed, and in 1985 television broadcasts in
Hungarian
and German were discontinued.
Romanian leaders claimed that the amalgamation of
minority and
Romanian schools and the 1973 educational reforms were
necessary
for administrative and economic efficiency and were not
intended to
ensure the assimilation of ethnic minorities. Although
that claim
appeared to be plausible, other actions that diminished
the ability
of minorities to maintain their ethnic identity were not
so readily
explained. The assimilation of national minorities into a
"harmonious whole" continued, and over the decades the gap
between
theory and practice in the treatment of minorities
widened. The
state's discriminatory policies steadily diminished
minority
constitutional, political, linguistic, and educational
rights.
Data as of July 1989
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