Southeast Europe

treaties and conventions to which Romania is a party”. (Council for National Minorities,
1994:101).
Co-ordinated by the Secretary General of the government, the council proved to be
ineffective from the outset. The DAHR withdrew its representatives after just a few
months because of this, and eventually the government realised that radical change was
necessary. This took the form of the establishment of the governmental Department for
Protection of National Minorities after the 1996 elections. The head of the department
had the title of “Minister mandated to the Prime Minister for National Minorities, and
with the status of a cabinet member.” In its early stages the Department displayed a
genuine capacity for open-mindedness, and it was hoped that, given the chance, it would
lead to real change for the minorities in Romania (Weber, 1998:246). The Department
for Protection of National Minorities has been subordinated to the Ministry of Public
Information, and has not enjoyed its previous status since the 2000 elections.
Merely being a signatory to some documents does not ensure that the national
minorities to whom they refer actually enjoy the rights guaranteed to them. The existing
legislation is not sufficient to guarantee minority rights in areas such as the use of the
mother tongue in courts or the freedom to study any subject one wishes at different
levels. Romania ratified The Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities in April 1995, including its stipulations in legislation, but they remained
unimplemented due to lack of detailed regulations. The same can be said for the Treaty
of Mutual Understanding, Co-operation and Good Neighbourhood between the
Republic of Hungary and Romania which is, according to DAHR deputy Varga Attila,
“inefficient, inaccessible, and ultimately ignored by both parties” (Varga, 2000). The
European Charter of Regional and Minority Language (1992) has not been ratified, yet,
because there is no consensus about whether optional articles are going to be accepted
by the Romanian State (Varga, 2000). The Romanian government, therefore, needs to
examine the problems with the current legislation and propose changes if minorities are
to enjoy in practice all the rights they are promised on paper.
6. AVAILABILITY OF EDUCATION FOR THE MINORITY
6.1 Brief history of the education system in relation to the minority
Hungarian language education in what is now Romania has enjoyed a long and
distinguished history. Some educational institutions in the region have been in existence
for more than four centuries. For example, the Reformed Secondary School in Cluj was
established in 1560, the Reformed Theological Secondary School “Bolyai-Farkas” in
Târgu Mureş was established in 1557, and the Catholic School from Odorheiu Secuiesc
was established in 1593 (Council for National Minorities, 1997:50).
After Transylvania and other lands from the Hapsburg Empire were ceded to Hungarian
rule in 1867, a policy of intensive assimilation of non-Hungarians was initiated
throughout the education system. Despite legislation passed in the following two years
protecting the right to education in the mother tongue (Primary Education Act 1868 and
the Law on Nationalities 1869), four education laws were adopted in 1879, 1883, 1891,
and 1907 that were designed to Magyarise teaching staff, thus expanding teaching in
Hungarian and restricting the availability of minority language education (Livezeanu,
1995:144-145). This situation continued until the First World War, when the postwar
settlements rendered the Hungarians in the region a minority, and a backlash ensued in
the form of intense “Romanisation” of schools there.
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