The Minister of Education, Daniel David, stated in an interview with Digi24 that he is going to reform the education system in Romania, but with small and well-thought-out steps. And all decisions will be made based on the evidence and after an in-depth analysis of the situations that would require major changes in the system because the allocated budget does not allow us to stretch more than our comforter.
Daniel David, Minister of Education
About the AUR protest: “There is democracy in Romania”
The incidents that took place during the AUR protest, when demonstrators assaulted several journalists, are not necessarily a cause of the population’s lack of education, but education could prevent, could be an antidote to such demonstrations, believes the Minister of Education, Daniel David. He declared that the AUR protest proves that there is democracy in Romania: “Despite these tensions, state institutions are working, in a democracy you also have protests and demonstrations, this is a sign of democracy. We are a functioning democracy. Of course, it would have been better if it was less violent. The institutions, however, work, look how you could have such a protest”.
Minister David spoke about democracy including in the context of last year’s presidential elections, elections canceled by the CCR. “We tend to exaggerate both the positive and the negative. And we get to these tensions that lead to the area of violence. The fact that you have people who believe otherwise, maybe even that Romania’s role is not in the EU, is a democratic right. It is a part of democracy. Of course, I don’t believe in that, I will fight against this idea, but I can accept the fact that there are people who see things differently. To avoid an extremist attitude and to have a democratic attitude you can fight for your rights while respecting those of others. If you step on their toes, if you become aggressive, if you want to put your fist in other people’s mouths, then it is no longer a democratic attitude”, said the minister.
On the other hand, the official stated that he wants citizens to be protected from anything that means manipulation: “Fake news, pseudo-science, bizarre things that are said, that distort common sense and normality. And that is why in the government program there is a special point to create a national platform for the promotion of science and to block the area of pseudo-science”. The minister refers to certain topics of interest that will be inserted in the school curriculum of the students: “For example, the healthy lifestyle that teaches children and how to protect themselves from drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, manipulation, fake news. There are many things we can do dor improving and updating the contents and without bringing more subjects”.
The Minister is thinking about Health Education – a topic that can be covered in the subject of Biology. Then the mental health and healthy lifestyle component could go into the Psychology area. There is also the matter of Counseling and guidance “where you can cover many other things related to education to be a good citizen”, the minister also specified. He also wants to implement disciplines in the area of self-knowledge and personal development. “If you manage to develop harmoniously, you will no longer be vulnerable to manipulation, conspiracies, fake news, drug use, etc.”
Hot meals in schools: “I will ask for a budget supplement and the economic situation will allow it”
The financing of the education system is a years-old problem that will not be solved even in 2025: “Twe need to ask for that amount of 6% of GDP and fight for it, but in parallel with one very important thing: making the system more efficient. There are a lot of things that need to be organized at the level of the education and research system so that when we go before the politicians, we have to show that we have put the house in order, and the institutions are prepared to spend that money efficiently”.
Hot meals in schools would be a priority: “The amounts allocated will remain at the level of last year, but I will ask for the supplement when the time is right. When the economic-financial situation will improve, the mayor said he will honor the promises made. I have confidence. And I will then demand the achievement of the objective proposed in the act of government regarding the hot meal”.
The Education budget will be higher than last year
As for the budget allocation for Education this year, Minister David declared that he is a realist: “My mandate is a 2-month mandate, there are different stages. In the first stage that I see in the conditions of this economic-financial crisis, what you can do is to streamline the architecture of the system as it exists in its current form. That is, the budget you have to use well, efficiently and not to start making major changes during this period. Because there are no resources. But many things can be done without extra money.” The minister gives as an example the reform of higher education and research area: “There are many institutions that do not cooperate with each other, that overlap, resources are spent through this overlap. We will evaluate them, we will restructure this area so that we have a development in this area”.
Regarding pre-university education, the minister announced that the framework plans will be put up for public debate: “This, in the first phase, can be done without asking for a much larger budget. I expect the ministry’s budget to be slightly higher than last year. In parallel, I am working on a diagnosis of the entire education and research system to know what works well and why, to strengthen those things, what works badly and why, to correct. And that diagnosis will form the basis of what I see as the second part of the mandate. We will settle down politically and I hope that in the middle of the year the financial aspects will work better.”
Daniel David: “I never considered running for the presidential elections”
Minister Daniel David confessed that he is preparing for a mandate of “six months plus what will follow after the six months”. As for the circulated candidacy for the presidential elections, he said that he never considered it: “My name was suggested by someone else. I said something else: that if we are in a situation where from the Euro-Atlantic side, I would have the best chances, based on rigorous studies, against a Romania that would assume a direction other than the Euro-Atlantic direction, then I could say yes and I could not refuse. But I don’t think in this logic, I don’t project myself in this logic, I am currently Minister of Education”.
Daniel David stated that the proposal for this position in the Government came from the PNL: “I talked with the president of the party and the discussion was very classy, balanced. There is a need to strengthen Euro-Atlantic Romania, there is a need to think of mechanisms to make things more efficient with a slightly larger but not very large budget in crisis conditions”. The minister accepted the proposal, coming up with proposals himself: “To bring education and research together. No way to separate them. They are connected to each other, they support each other”.
Functional illiteracy, combated by effective remedial learning
The “Educated Romania” program, the minister also declared, cannot be judged globally “because it started in a certain form and changed a lot along the way. However, I can tell you that the form in which the higher education law was expressed is an acceptable form. In the next six months, I am not going to make any changes in the area of the adopted organic laws. Nor on the laws of pre-university education. Because I adopted them for a year”
The minister also said that in Romania between 40 and 42% of 15-year-olds are functionally illiterate: “Here we must insist on a well-done remedial learning. We don’t do proper remedial learning. If we discover that in the 9th grade a child has problems in Chemistry and cannot progress, the tendency is to ask the class teacher to stay with him to do those things, to give him those skills. Which is an acceptable but not the most efficient approach. Because you are treating the symptoms with the same classroom teacher who has not been able to get the student to overcome their limits anyway.”
What would be the solution? “Remedial learning should be done with teachers who are trained to do remedial learning with methods other than those that brought the student to the area,” Minister Daniel David also declared.
