Almost 2,000 children and young people in the diaspora signed up, in a week, for free Romanian-language courses run by the Ministry of Education and Research with the Bureau for Diaspora Relations. Applications are not seats filled. Registration closed before the 25 October deadline because of the number of forms.

The programme is for children and teenagers aged 10 to 18, originally from the Republic of Moldova, who live abroad. Lessons are online, with teachers in the country. Groups are set by age and by language level. The timetable, the ministry says, follows the children's availability.

The Bureau for Diaspora Relations said every application will be examined. Places are limited. Eligibility and the order of registration decide who gets in. The answer comes to the email on the form. That is an administrative selection, not a right earned by sending the form.

Moldova 1 and #diez give the same figures: about 2,000 applicants, an early close, limited places. This is not a school palmarès and not a diploma. It is a language programme, free, at a distance.

Do not mix these applications with the National Programme for learning Romanian for people who live in the Republic of Moldova. That is another circuit, with other enrolments. Nor are the DOR camps this online course: DOR is a summer programme, with other editions and another headcount.

Until the acceptance email, 2,000 remains a count of files, not of pupils. Anyone who does not get a place has not failed a language exam; they have fallen outside the cap on seats.

Image: Harold, National Library, Chisinau, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; language and culture, not the online classroom.

Sources consulted: Record sign-ups for Romanian courses for the diaspora: about 2,000 applicants in a week - Moldova 1; 2,000 Moldovan children and teenagers in the diaspora registered for free Romanian courses - #diez.