Teachers are obliged to undertake in writing, until the end of the year, that they do not offer meditation for a fee to students in the classes they teach. The declaration of interests, which must be submitted by December 31, will not stop the phenomenon, but it will cause teachers to be impartial in the classroom, experts say.
Teachers are not allowed to meditate on their students in class. Photo source: archive
“We are talking about a simple, fast and binding procedure that pursues a precise goal,” Dan Tita, the president of the Parents’ Association in Sector 1 of the Capital, told “Adevărul”. Is it about stopping the phenomenon of meditations? “Not. There is no way you can fight this scourge. Instead, you can have a teacher adapt their teaching to the level of all students in the class, from the best to the weakest“, explained the father.
A paper that weighs a lot
“By signing this declaration, an attempt is made to avoid a conflict of interest”, explained for “Adevărul” and Iuliana Constantinescu, the representative of the parents in sector 2 of the Capital. “The teacher who gives meditations to his own students is not impartial in evaluating the children. Then he doesn’t show his interest in class. We faced a lot of situations like this, when teachers worked in the classroom only with certain children that they meditated on privately. The level of those was higher, the others couldn’t cope, they were left behind, they couldn’t keep up. The teacher was demanding, he put a lot of pressure on the children who didn’t meditate, and he practically made them seek private training as well”, explains Iuliana Constantinescu.
The teachers undertake in writing that they respect this regulation – the prohibition of meditations in the classroom – provided in the Education Law, and if they violate it they are liable to sanctions. “There is no categorically regulated specific sanction. Violation of the regulation falls under the category of non-compliance with the rules in force, and depending on its seriousness, the Disciplinary Investigation Commission and the Board of Administration decide the sanction they will impose”. the father also specified.
But how can the management of a school find out that a certain teacher does not follow the rules and meditates on his students? “In reality, there is no control from the educational unit or from the authorities. The teacher can declare one and act exactly the other way around. We can only talk about complaints that could be made against them. But, most of the time, parents are afraid to file a complaint. Some to buy their children peace of mind in the classroom, others because they trust that teacher who is a professional.” Iuliana Constantinescu also explained.
“If you sign on your own responsibility and do not respect what you signed, you are at fault. That might scare some people and determine to give up this practice. On the other hand, who could check them and how?” asks the representative of the parents.
Dan Tita comes with an answer. “Let’s say I meditate on the kids in the class, but I declare that I don’t. The income collected is not declared either. In this context, a colleague of mine or a parent makes a notification to ANAF and I, because I did not declare those incomes, can be sanctioned once by the school, because I violated a regulation, once by ANAF because I am escapist. That’s why the teachers are afraid, that ANAF will keep an eye on them”.
The declaration of interests must be submitted by the end of the year. Source: archive
What it looks like and how to complete the declaration of interests
The declaration of interests could be submitted as early as February, when the teachers were informed about the procedure and signed an information note to that effect. While many filled out the document right then, others are just now preparing.
In the declaration, the teacher must enter his name and surname, address, data from the bulletin, he must write down the name and address of the school, but also what teaching norm he has. In the declaration, the discipline, the class taught and the current school year are then filled in. The document must be dated and signed.
In the Romanian education system, there are over 200,000 teaching staff, according to data from August 2023 of the Ministry of Education, who must submit this declaration of interests. The provision exists for seven years in the Code of Ethics, but, most of the time, it has not been taken seriously.
