Education Minister Sorin Cimpeanu, said on Thursday that an implementation schedule for the "Educated Romania" project will have to become available before September 10, adding that in order to achieve the intermediate objective of the project, the allocation 4.7% of the Gross Domestic Product for education spending, money from Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), money from the European Social Fund and funds from the national budget are taken into account, agerpres reports.
Early in the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Florin Citu, Cimpeanu said that underfunding is one of the challenges facing the Romanian education system.
"We are at almost 3.6% of GDP, but in a governmental memorandum we pledged to reach as an intermediate objective 4.7% of GDP in education spending, which is what the European average for public education spending is. Of course, money should be geared toward where they can generate reliable results. I have always understood and supported the principle that results in education can always be seen in the medium and long term, but we can have a consistent strategy, that is our role, more precisely, a schedule for the implementation of the 'Educated Romania' project under which to direct investment in education in an efficient way," said Cimpeanu.
He explained that Romania will reach a 4.7% of GDP in public education spending through budget building.