2024 was the year of great surprises in Education. I also ticked off a first: the rescheduling of Baccalaureate, which will start in the winter. The detention room, the banning of mobile phones in schools, but also the introduction of a new type of school scholarships are among the most important events that took place.
What changes have been made in education in 2024. Photo: World Vision
This year we marked a first in the Romanian education system: the Baccalaureate was rescheduled, and the first tests, the skills tests, will be held in the winter, between January 27 and February 7. As for the written tests, they will be given in the summer, but a month earlier than before. Specifically, the high school graduates will take the Romanian Language, Mathematics, History, Geography, Biology, Physics, Chemistry tests between June 10-16. Registration for the skills exam takes place between 16-20 December 2024, and each test will span three days. Another proposal that was adopted and which concerns the 2025 Baccalaureate exam is the possibility for students to view their papers after receiving the initial grade, but before submitting appeals. This change came as a result of requests from students and parents who wanted to know whether or not it is really necessary to file an appeal, whether or not they have a real chance of getting their grade increased.
You don’t answer my SMS
Starting this year, the law prohibiting the use of mobile phones in schools by students came into force. With one exception: these devices must be requested by teachers and used for educational purposes in class. Students are obliged to leave their mobile phones in special boxes at the beginning of classes, and can only use them during breaks. The former Minister of Education, Ligia Deca, stated in September that schools have the possibility to partially or totally ban phones.
One of the most controversial proposals from the Ministry of Education was the detention room, a decision that inflamed spirits especially among parents and students. However, it must be recognized that neither the teachers nor the principals looked kindly on this measure of punishment. Among their reasons were the lack of teachers to supervise the children, the lack of space in the schools, the fact that reading or other educational activities that were to be practiced in those rooms should not be seen as a punishment. In the end, due to the pressure created, the decision that, initially, should have been implemented mandatorily at the level of each school, became optional. Ligia Deca came out again saying that it is up to the schools if they will set up such a room and up to the teachers if they will resort to such a punishment.
300 lei for the first 30%
At the end of June, the government approved a draft Emergency Ordinance through which it introduced resilience grants, worth 300 lei per month. The first 30% of students in a class who had an annual average of at least 7.00 and at most 9.50 at the end of the last school year benefit from the resilience scholarship. Resilience grants are also awarded to students with oncological and/or chronic conditions who have attended school, for a period of more than 4 weeks, in the “Hospital School” or at home, in the school year following their return to the educational unit where they were previously registered, the Government sent then. Also, in the situation where students accumulate 10 or more unexcused absences in a month, they do not receive the scholarship of excellence, resilience, merit, social, or technological scholarship, as the case may be, for that month.
Referendum to prevent drug use in schools
“You agree that Bucharest City Hall finances and implements a health education and drug prevention program in all schools in Bucharest?’ was the third question answered by the capital’s residents in the referendum organized by mayor Nicușor Dan on November 24. The question to which the majority of those who went to the polls answered “Yes” puts on the back burner the eternal problem of the consumption and trafficking of narcotics in the schools and high schools of the Capital. This question was proposed by PSD general advisers, Nicușor Dan explained, after CGMB approved the holding of the referendum. The question, however, experts believe, was an absolutely useless one.
