A/HRC/34/53/Add.2 strategy was still pending adoption. She welcomes the initiative and recommends that the strategy comply fully with the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. Moreover, she was informed that a national cultural development strategy entitled “Culture-2020” had been approved to preserve cultural diversity and protect the cultural and ethnic identity of national minorities. 24. The Special Rapporteur notes that there is a generally conducive legal and institutional framework on minority rights in the Republic of Moldova. She observed however that the fragmentation of the existing framework and the lack of adequate budgetary provisions for the implementation of the relevant policies and action plans constitute important obstacles for the proper realization of minority rights protection. IV. Specific areas of concern regarding linguistic rights A. Education 25. Language issues, especially in the context of education, featured prominently in the consultations held. It was evident that the use of one’s mother tongue is highly important and emotive for many communities and is an essential aspect of personal and community identity. As stated by a minority representative, “if you lose your language, you lose your identity”. Minority groups with whom the Special Rapporteur met clearly expressed their desire to maintain and protect their language rights and their ability to use their mother tongue. Russian is spoken by a sizeable population in the Republic of Moldova, including by many minority groups, who claimed that they should be allowed to use it freely in private and public without discrimination. 26. The Special Rapporteur was informed about three modalities of minority language schools: (a) those where Russian is the language of instruction, traditionally attended by national minorities; (b) those where Russian is the language of instruction and Ukrainian, Gagauz and Bulgarian are taught as subjects three times per week, and where the history, culture and traditions of Russians, Ukraininans, Gagauz and Bulgarians is also taught once per week; and (c) experimental gymnasiums and lyceums/high schools where primary and secondary education is conducted in Ukrainian or Bulgarian as mother-tongue education. 27. Persons belonging to minority groups, including Bulgarians, Gagauzians, Russians and Ukrainians, expressed their desire to receive education in their mother tongue in schools and their deep concern that the provisions in the 2014 Education Code guarantee the State language only as the language of instruction, raising fears that education in minority languages would be eventually subjected to the availability of financial resources. In Balti, Russian-speaking minority representatives regretted deeply the fact that the new Education Code could result in Russian losing its mandatory status as a subject in State language schools. 28. Some interlocutors pointed out that the process of the school optimization reform was further impacting on their right to receive mother-tongue education, given the requirement for a specific number of students to maintain minority language instruction. Some referred to the optimization reform as having a disproportionate impact on Russian language schools as many of them were being closed down. 29. The Special Rapporteur also learned that the school optimization reform was affecting schools that offered instruction in the State language, such as the Otaci lyceum, where the State language classes were going to be discontinued owing to the fact that the minimum number of students required to maintain the classes, 15, had not been met. 8