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Romanian students have a strong sense of European belonging, according to the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2022 report, which was released Thursday by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.
Representatives of the Ministry of Education told AGERPRES in a press release on Thursday that 97% of Romanian students say they are European, 94% are proud of Romania's membership in the European Union, both percentages being higher than the ICCS 2022 average (95% and 91% respectively), agerpres reports.
Romanian students support cooperation between European countries to protect the environment: 94% of them think that European countries should adopt common rules to protect the environment.
A significant share of Romanian students are critical of the costs of European institutions (62%), of the influence of rich countries on European policies (70%) and of European bureaucrats (61%).
Romanian students trust European institutions more than national ones. 69% and 68% of Romanian students trust the European Commission and the European Parliament respectively. Only 44% trust the Romanian government with the same level of confidence.
Romanian students expect to vote in the European elections to a greater extent than in the other countries participating in the survey: 77% of them say they are most likely to vote in the European elections, compared to only 58%, the ICCS average.
About half of Romanian students believe that terrorism, poverty, unemployment, religious intolerance, economic inequality will increase in the future in Europe: 76% of them think that the economic gap between rich and poor European countries will increase.
Most Romanian students are optimistic about improving cooperation between European countries (88%), strengthening European democracy (79%), reducing pollution (62%), improving access to health services (75%) and women's representation in politics (76%) in the future in Europe.
In all the countries participating in the study, students with a higher socio-economic status and those with a higher level of civic knowledge are more supportive of freedom of movement in Europe, cooperation between European countries on environmental issues and the adoption of common policies than students with a lower socio-economic status and a lower level of civic knowledge.
82% of Romanian students, compared to the ICCS average of 75%, declare that they have learned to a high and average extent about the European Union at school, and 78% of Romanian teachers feel prepared to teach students about the European Union, compared to 76% of teachers from other countries participating in the ICCS 2022 study.
Minister of Education Ligia Deca said she was happy with the confidence that Romanian students had in European cooperation and its benefits, as well as their optimism about the future of democracy.
The International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2022 aims to assess the civic and citizenship skills of 8th grade students and is based on data from 18 countries, including Romania.
