Prime Minister Luca Niculescu convened a working meeting on the topic of safety in schools, after the two attacks with white weapons that took place this week in educational units in Bistrita and Pitesti. The meeting takes place in the context in which the Minister of Education, Sorin Costreie, requests the addition of security personnel, and the President Nicușor Dan draws attention to the need for measures to protect students and teachers.
UPDATE 15:45 The government announces, on Friday, the measures that were decided following the working session for safety in schools, through which there is the strengthening of security at the entrance and in the premises of schools, a rapid reaction mechanism, the increase in the number of psychological counselors, but also the tightening of the sanctioning regime for acts of violence. The government also announces a working group, coordinated by the Minister of Education and Research, and next week the meeting will take place with the representatives of teachers, students and parents, for the urgent revision of the National Plan to Prevent and Combat Violence in Schools. Details HERE.
UPDATE 08:30 Prime Minister Luca Niculescu declared, on Friday morning, at the beginning of the Government meeting, that he will have a working meeting with the ministers and with the institutions responsible regarding the cases of violence in educational units from Bistrita and Pitesti, to establish “very quickly an integrated plan to increase safety in schools”. He says the proposals put forward by ministers aim at “clear responsibilities, preventive measures, rapid intervention and firm sanctions for acts of violence”.
“I would like to start the meeting with a subject that concerns us all. It is about the safety of children in schools. First of all, I want to convey a thought of solidarity to the children and the teacher who were injured in the serious incidents that took place in the last few days in the schools of Bistrița and Ploiești (sic!) (Pitesti – ed.). I wish them a speedy, complete recovery from the bottom of my heart and I want both them and their families to know that the Government of Romania is with them.
These recent serious cases of violence are deeply worrying. We understand the fear, we understand the revolt of parents and teachers, because school must be a place where children learn, develop, feel protected, and not a place where they are afraid to go. No child should have to leave home for school in fear, and no parent should have to wonder if that child will return home safely.
Immediately after this Government meeting, I will have a working meeting with the ministers and the responsible institutions. I want us to very quickly establish an integrated plan to increase safety in schools. I want to thank the ministers who have already come forward with proposals this evening, tonight. A plan containing clear responsibilities, prevention measures, rapid intervention and firm sanctions for acts of violence. Because it is not enough to react after every serious incident. We must do everything in our power to prevent such incidents and tragedies.
Children’s safety is not negotiable, it is a fundamental responsibility of the state. It is a priority for this Government,” said Prime Minister Luca Niculescu.
“Today, immediately after the Government meeting, I convened an evaluation meeting with the ministers responsible for fulfilling the outstanding milestones in the PNRR. We have very, very tight deadlines, we cannot afford to lose European money due to delays, due to a lack of coordination, and my objective is very clear to save every euro that Romania can collect through the PNRR, because it is money that, as you know, means investments in hospitals, in schools, in infrastructure, in the modernization of this state. It is money that Romania needs and I want every minister to know exactly what he has to do and who is responsible for fulfilling the commitments and how quickly these commitments can be made.
Today we will take a concrete measure to protect the livestock sector and to support Romanian sheep and goat breeders, who are facing economic losses due to diseases that affect animals. Specifically, we will approve the donation from the strategic reserves of the European Union of 1.1 million doses of vaccine against plague of small ruminants and smallpox in sheep and goats. It is an approach of the European Commission, but initiated as a result of the request coming from the Romanian authorities. The first 300,000 doses have already arrived in Romania. Deliveries continue. ANSVSA will organize the emergency vaccination campaign at the national level. It is a beneficial measure both for the health of the animals and for the income of the breeders. When disease outbreaks occur, farmers lose money. The possibilities to sell their animals in foreign markets are affected.
Currently, the movement of live sheep and goats to other European Union states and to other market states is restricted until the end of this year, in the current epidemiological context, and this European support will allow us to intervene more quickly to limit the spread of diseases.
In the meantime, the tasks of the national authorities are clear: to limit outbreaks, to protect livestock, to create the conditions for the safe resumption of trade in live animals and animal products. We must be with the animal breeders, because by protecting them, we are supporting this sector, which is extremely important for Romania, and the Government will see to it that the measures are implemented as quickly as possible, respecting the sanitary-veterinary requirements”, Niculescu said.
Original news:
Prime Minister Luca Niculescu convened, on Friday, from 09.00, a working session on the topic of safety in schools, following the serious incidents in schools, in the last few days, in Bistrita and Pitesti.
On Monday, in a school in Bistrita, a 7th grade student attacked a teacher and a student with a knife, trying to harm a boy he considered Indian. On Thursday, a 15-year-old student attacked a colleague with a machete and assaulted another, in a high school in Pitesti.
The Minister of Education, Sorin Costreie, declared that “our schools are now a bit lonely, they are left somewhat desolate”, referring to the two attacks with white weapons recorded this week in educational units in Bistrita and Pitesti.
He believes that students and teachers must feel safe and announces that he will ask for an increase in the number of guards. “It would be about 1,000 positions. At the country level, there are not many, but let them go to key places”, declared Costreie.
And the president Nicusor Dan conveyed, after the two serious incidents in schools, in less than a week, that there are two signals that we can no longer afford to ignore and we need safer schools, teachers supported and prepared to intervene, real access to psychological counseling, but also measures for the protection of minors in the use of the online space.
The head of state also says that the safety of children in the online environment must concern us and we need solutions that emerge from the dialogue between the authorities, specialists, teachers, parents and students.
