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The Minister of Education, Ligia Deca, said on Thursday, regarding the results of the National Assessment exam, that the number of candidates with an average of 10 has doubled compared to last year, but, unfortunately, the percentage of candidates with averages below five has increased, from at 17.7% last year to 23.8% this year.
Deca said that the highest percentage of participation in the National Assessment was recorded in Bucharest - 98.9%, and the lowest percentage was in Olt county - 88.4%.
"As for the results, we published them yesterday. What we can see is the fact that the number of candidates with an average of 10 has doubled, there are 429 this year, compared to 221 in 2022, and in 2021 there were 132 candidates with average 10. At the same time, unfortunately, the percentage of candidates with an average below five increased, from 17.7 last year to 23.8. It should be noted, however, that this does not mean that these children will not be assigned to high school education or that they cannot opt for vocational schools, education being compulsory until the twelfth grade or until the end of the vocational school," the minister pointed out.
Ligia Deca reminded that the final results will be published on July 4, after the appeals, followed by the stage of distribution to the educational units and high schools.
According to the Minister of Education, exam attendance is part of "a certain trend" in recent years.
"I have already asked the ministry and, together with the Institute of Education Sciences and experts from the Ministry of Education, we will carry out an analysis, both quantitatively and qualitatively. We will take some representative samples to see why some 8th grade students do not enroll, why they do not manage to go through the steps to be in the National Assessment and similarly for the Baccalaureate exam. We have a number of programs, some with European funding, for example the National Program to reduce school dropout and we want the measures we have funded to be able to intervene exactly where it is needed. Clearly we need to better understand the reasons why students do not take the National Assessment exam," said Deca.
Asked about the grades below 5, she replied: "It's really a difference of about five percentage points." "I think we need to know much earlier when there are gaps in learning, that is not wait and get to the 8th grade assessment so we can intervene. That's why, for example, in the new Pre-University Education Law, we have the National Program for reducing functional illiteracy, which involves annual tests on a standardized platform, in order to be able to see the child's progress and to be able to adapt the way in which he covers the subject year by year, to avoid having a grade below 5 in the 8th grade. It does not affect the chances of going on to high school, but it is clear that even in the 9th grade for these children we will need remedial programs," the minister explained.
Also, when asked if the teachers' strike led to these low grades, Ligia Deca claimed that "it is difficult to say".
"This generation also went through two pandemic years. Any gaps in learning could also come from the periods when education took place either online or in hybrid from. That's why, I said, we need a qualitative analysis to understand this phenomenon. I don't think that a single factor contributed to these results, but I think that the measures we are taking now, either through Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) - financially supported, or through the new Education Law, will help us see, in the future, a better performance during the National Exams," Ligia Deca also said.
