The new Student Statute, sent for publication in the Official Gazette, and which will enter into force starting this school year, has heated the spirits among parents and divided them into two camps. Apple of Discord: The detention room where disruptive students can be sent.
Schools do not have spaces to set up detention classes. Photo source: archive
While some parents agree with the new provisions, others believe that there will be abuse by teachers towards students. And on social media groups, the pros and cons discussions are very heated.
“What happens if the parent contests the teacher’s decision to send the child to the detention room and requests that the student no longer attend classes with that teacher? Considering that this measure is bullying the child”.
“Detention hall”?!?! What are they: prisoners/criminals?! Couldn’t they call it a “meditation hall” like in other countries? Idiots at the Ministry of Education”.
“We want a country like outside. The penitentiary has been around for a long time in America. We want evolution, that’s what we get”.
“I am in favor of this because in my child’s class there are 2-3 students who disturb the lessons on purpose and my child (and not only) comes home tired and frustrated because the teacher, due to lack of time, either did not explain again or taught quickly what he had to teach…etc. (take advantage especially during classes when the teachers are young, kind and attentive in class)”
“However, the Romanian school itself is a penitentiary. Locked in the building, under the watch of the guard, forced to sit between four walls, seated in cruelly uncomfortable chairs. You are not allowed to drink water, you are not allowed to use the toilet, you are not allowed to breathe unless you are allowed. Punishment upon punishment. You are not allowed to talk to your colleagues. You are only allowed to open your mouth when asked. Your personal phone is confiscated. Sometimes you also have to wear an uncomfortable uniform. And many others! What’s more, the greater the restrictions and punishments, the more unruly children become from year to year. So this method doesn’t seem to work. Hello, the ministry!”
“I keep reading this term of “…detention” and it’s like I still can’t process it. With all due respect to the “lady”, her last neuron has disappeared? Why don’t we take them straight to prison? That surely no more problem children come out of there. Have all the problems in the Romanian education system been solved and this is the only thing left? Are we parents really going to accept this?”
These are just a few of the comments that have set the internet ablaze.
Parents are afraid of possible abuse by teachers
Dan Tita, the president of the Parents’ Association from sector 1 of the Capital, told “Adevărul” that, first of all, the name “detention room” is not a happy one at all and people got stuck, many of them, in this term.
“Doesn’t sound good at all. There is a lot of marketing in the middle. And the parents, some of them, associate the term with very serious things. Then, people fear that students will be subjected to abuse, that teachers may punish them unfairly. teachers will have this new power in their hands and many will not know how to use it. It would be good if this detention occurred after a few warnings. That is, you do not remove the student from the class on the first offense. Parents are afraid that the teachers could send whoever they want and when they want to the detention room”, Dan Tita explained to us.
But, says the representative of the parents in sector 1 of the Capital, these slippages can be proved quite easily. There are witnesses, other students in the class, surveillance cameras. “An abuse is observed and this phenomenon can be kept under control, if not stopped.”
Other parents, continues Dan Tita, believe that we should not focus on punishments, but on prevention. “Obviously, there are many who believe that this punishment will have no effect, the student will not revise his behavior. If you just send him to the detention room, you haven’t done anything.”
However, there is still a long way to go, as these regulations cannot be put into practice for the time being. “Minister it does nothing but find solutions that cannot be implemented. There are many schools that do not have free spaces for these detention rooms. All classes are occupied. Then there are no teachers to supervise the children. There should be a supervisor, but support staff do not have this responsibility in their job description. The burden should fall to school counselors, but we all know that there are very few of them. Even the in-service teachers can’t deal with it, because they have hours in the classroom.”
Therefore, the detention room and punishments will remain operational, at least, only at the declarative level.
