Mihai Dimian, the Minister of Education and Research, claims that teachers who work more than 40 hours a week must be financially rewarded additionally — regardless of whether the activity is carried out at school or from home.
The minister outlined a concrete approach: carrying out a detailed analysis of the complete teaching job description, followed by a real quantification of all teachers’ activities.
This should be the basis of any decision regarding the didactic norm, writes Mediafax.
Those who exceed 40 hours worked should be rewarded
“Let’s quantify these activities, and let those who exceed 40 hours a week be rewarded additionally”said Mihai Dimian, offering as a concrete example the situation of the teachers involved in correcting papers from national exam simulations.
Currently, teachers are not paid extra for correcting the work of students taking mock National Assessment and Baccalaureate exams.
An often unquantified workload
According to the minister, some of these assessments could be included in the extended job description, but the workload often exceeds this limit:
“If you’re doing mock evaluations, maybe 30 evaluations I can fit into this extended job description, but the rest I have nowhere to fit. So I have to find the funds to pay for these additional evaluations.”
“Works are evaluated by the teacher wherever he is”
Dimian emphasized that the analysis must look at the activity of teachers throughout the school year, not just during periods of intense teaching activity, and that the work done at home — including the correction of papers in digital format — must be officially recognized.
“Teachers can mark at home. When digitizing this simulation process, we send the papers to be graded by the teacher wherever they are”explained the minister.
A thorough analysis is required
Before any decision regarding the lowering of teaching standards — a sensitive subject in the relationship with the unions — the minister specified that this exhaustive analysis of the real tasks of the teaching staff is necessary first.
“I also proposed to the unions” this approach, Dimian added.
About Mihai Dimian
Rector of “Ștefan cel Mare” University in Suceava starting from 2024, Mihai Dimian was appointed Minister of Education and Research in March 2026, at the proposal of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, after previously coordinating the scientific research activity of the university for over a decade.
The minister’s statements come in a context marked by tensions in the education system, after about 500 teachers protested in front of the Cotroceni Palace, dissatisfied with the working conditions and salaries.
