On Friday it was the eighth day of protests in front of the Ministry of Education, where dozens of teachers asked for the resignation of Minister Daniel David. The teachers have announced that they are trying to collect 100,000 signatures to initiate a draft law to cancel the Government measures regarding the increase of the teaching norm and to increase the number of students in the classroom. Daniel David acknowledged that the system is in a “Crisis situation”.
Photo: Mediafax/Alexandru Dobre
In an intervention at the B1 TV station, the Minister of Education acknowledged that the system is facing a “Crisis situation” Due to an insufficient budget, which does not fully cover salaries and scholarships for the entire school year.
Daniel David explained that the ministry has requested additional funds since the beginning of the year, but received money only for part of the period, to wait for a possible positive budget rectification.
“I wanted to tell you that if I knew I would like to talk, I would not go on vacation the two or three days. When I found out we would talk, I returned.”said the minister on Friday, August 8, adding that he is open to proposals for amending the orders of minister, but cannot intervene on the provisions of the fiscal-budgetary law. These, he says, can only be discussed with the Prime Minister and the Government.
Asked about a possible resignation, Daniel David said he would be willing to leave office if this would solve the financial problems in education.
“As I told them, if my resignation had solved the financial problems, I would have given it a lot”, the minister pointed out.
Regarding the beginning of the school year, the official said that his priority is the preparation of the system for September, so that there are resources for paying salaries and scholarships.
“We asked for money for the whole year. We received from the Ministry of Finance for part of this year, we will wait for the positive rectification, as it happened, I repeat, and in the past years.
This is why he was talking about education. We start the activities in September, and for me the important thing is to make sure that from September we manage to cover salaries and scholarships ”, added the minister, in his intervention on B1 TV.
However, the unions warn that if the new measures are not given up, they could trigger the strike at the beginning of the school year.
