PM Orban: Good things happening in most schools

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban stated, on Monday, that for most education units the start of the school year took place in good conditions and asked the Minister of Education, Monica Anisie, to ensure the school inspectorates monitor the situation and intervene in the cases in which there are dysfunctionalities.

"I want you to convey to teachers, to school inspectorates my trust and appreciation. My request to them - to face all challenges. Surely, not everything will run smoothly from the get go, small dysfunctionalities will appear, imperfections. The entire system - the Minister of Education, the school inspectorates - you must monitor carefully, to promptly intervene in each situation where a dysfunctionality must be corrected. As it is, I will tell you honestly, from what I saw, there were good things happening in most schools. Surely not in all schools - this depends on the local administration and teacher corps, the school director -, but please call on the school inspectorates to carefully monitor and be prepared to intervene, as we discussed, including through the building up of buffer stocks for masks, tablets, webcams. Especially check there are webcams so that the online broadcast of lessons be possible," said the Prime Minister, at the start of the Government sitting.

He added that he has visited several school units in different counties and stated he's "impressed" with the way in which preparations for the school year took place.

"Including in communes, schools that are well prepared, with the safety measures taken. I believe we can face any situation that appears. It's important to accentuate this message: children need school. Interrupting the educational process affects the entire educational process. If you accumulate a backlog or you have gaps in the educational process, it may affect your understanding in the coming years of school. We will have to clearly communicate this message. It's extremely important for children to follow the school process, regardless how it is done, in classes or online," said Orban.

According to him, "slowly but surely" things tend to return to a "more normal" atmosphere.

"That atmosphere of tension that was generated does not exist anymore. Still, the start of school is a joy both for children, as well as for teachers, maybe even for parents. Little by little we must ensure a normality, to show that things can be handled, depending on any situation that appears," he claimed.

In her turn, the Minister of Education, Monica Anisie mentioned that at the time there are 12,423 educational units functioning on a green scenario, 4,915 in yellow scenario and 263 in online system. There are 11 counties where no educational unit is functioning in the red scenario (fully online): Harghita, Caras-Severin, Hunedoara, Ialomita, Bihor, Valcea, Tulcea, Botosani, Bistrita-Nasaud, Covasna and Vaslui.