Statement I talks about some time frame "at the time". Hence, it can't be an opening sentence. The time frame mentioned in statement I is given in statement V (year 1997) . Therefore, we can say that V, I is a mandatory pair. “Grammar-school teachers were quite afraid of the reforms,” he recalls. Here, word 'he' refers to Matti Meri, therefore, we can say that statement I and III are mandatory pairs. Therefore, option A is the correct answer.