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USR (Save Romania Union) urges Minister Sorin Cimpeanu to immediately withdraw the new education laws.
"These laws only protect the plagiarists and further politicize the education system in Romania. We cannot accept that the future of Romanian children be compromised because of a minister whose only goal is to help his boss, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, escape the accusation of plagiarism that was brought to him. We cannot leave the modernization and reform of the education system in our country to Sorin Cimpeanu and his laws. He is the same minister who sees no problem in the fact that, in 2022, many schools still have their toilets in the backyard," reads the USR press release, told Agerpres.
According to the same source, if the Minister of Education does not withdraw the new laws and they reach Parliament, the USR MPs will "fight to stop the harmful provisions" of these projects.
"Neither the teachers nor the children are at the core of these initiatives. And this definitively confirms the failure of the Educated Romania project," says USR head Catalin Drula.
USR supports four strategic directions in this field: "education treated as a unitary system" with the pupils and students at the core of the education policies; education as the ethical basis of society; a "true management" at school level; reducing school dropout.
According to a position document drawn up by the USR, the party's representatives plead for a curricular reform that focuses on general culture, critical thinking, practice, creativity, interdisciplinarity and, to a lesser extent, the transmission of information.
"Romania must introduce a new Baccalaureate concept, one to ensure a complete route between pre-university and higher education, for all types of education," USR points out.
According to the same source, although the international trend is against standardized assessment, which does not capture the particularities, inclinations, talents and interests of each individual student, Romania "still needs a transitional period of standardized assessment that gives a chance to all children and collects data on the basis on which serious public policies can be built."
USR also supports the "adequate" funding of research with the clear mention of a percentage of GDP and the connection of universities with relevant public and private actors, from all areas of society, from economy to public administration.
In addition, the USR representatives want to keep CNADTCU (National Council for Attesting Titles, Diplomas and Certificates) as a central body independent of the political decision of the Minister of Education.
At the same time, USR supports "the application of the principles of corporate governance" in the education system and the depoliticization of management functions, as well as the abolition of school inspectorates and the transfer of attributions to the school level.
The party's representatives also support the mandatory increase of the standard cost per student by 25pct for disadvantaged schools, as well as the extension and permanence of the school dropout reduction programme, "School for All", initiated in 2016 by the Ministry of European Funds.
