2025 was an atypical year for Education. He came with new framework plans and programs, after 20 years, but also with measures that polarized society. Among teachers and education unions there was a wave of revolt against Minister Daniel David who, before the Winter Holidays, resigned. The increase in the didactic standard by two hours, remedial classes, but also functional illiteracy represented the bone of contention. Education specialist Gabi Bartic believes that 2025 was the year that opened discussions about how we want our children’s school to look and, more than that, a year of testing reflexes in education.
Framework plans, the test of resistance to change
On January 31, the framework plans for the high school were released for public consultation. After 20 years without changes, the new plans were presented as an adaptation of the program to the needs and realities of the 21st century. Education specialist Gabi Bartic says, for “Weekend Adevărul”, that:
“That was the first time we talked about a product that we were all waiting for in Education for a long time. Which was or wasn’t to our liking, the people in education, but which opened up some conversations about what we want our children’s school to look like. And more than that, it tested some reflexes of the system. My opinion is that what we did with the reform of the framework plans is not a spectacular step forward, but I said that we tested the reflexes of the system. From time to time, we need to see how much resistance the system puts up, what the system’s oppositions are to any kind of proposed change. And with the discussions about the framework plans we had that kind of conversation and we realized that the system is still resistant to change. That is, we want change, but not to change anything. We want to revolutionize everything, but don’t change our discipline, don’t change the number of hours, don’t change staffing, chairs”.
After several debates, the final version was approved in June 2025 and includes a pilot program that allows high schools more flexibility in organizing the curriculum. Specifically, in addition to the common core subjects, schools will be able to choose which disciplines or projects to include in their plan and how many hours to allocate to them. The new plans also come with new curricula and textbooks, as well as teacher training courses.
May 19 is the date on which the Minister of Education, Daniel David, launched “QX. The diagnostic report of education and research in Romania. Current achievements and implications for new reforms in the field. Just as its name suggests, the document contained a diagnosis, but also reform proposals for the educational and research system.
Summer came with unpopular measures
In July, However, Daniel David was becoming, from a minister of reform, a minister of austerity. The government then adopted a package of fiscal measures that included Education. The change to hourly pay and the increase in the teaching norm from 18 to 20 hours per week sparked an outcry among teachers and unions, who threatened to boycott the start of the school year. This has not happened again. The students returned to the banks on September 8, but the festivities at the beginning of the school year were missing.
Gabi Bartic says:,I don’t think that two hours more than the teaching norm is a misfortune. I know it’s very complicated when you have some freedoms to give them up. I would not draw parallels with other types of freedom from other career areas in Romania, but the teaching standard of Romanian teachers is in all OECD reports far below the European average. The fact that I’ve raised it now and it’s on the European average, by no means on the European maximum, shouldn’t be a bummer. Of course, when you have to give two more hours of your time, it’s very complicated. And I understand that, and I also understand the preservation of the status quo.”
Even if he does not consider it a bad measure, the education specialist draws attention to an anomaly that has arisen due to the rapid and unvarnished application. And he criticizes the way he communicated.
“Because the increased norm of a tenured teacher can mean no norm or a greatly reduced norm for a substitute or a debutante teacher. In these fine shades I think it is a problem. And I think there was very little time to judge these fine nuances and not go on <
And among the students there was dissatisfaction, especially because of the scholarships. Those for resilience and for Olympians have been eliminated, and for merit scholarships, a different awarding criterion has been changed: only the first 15% of a class can receive this reward. In the previous school year, all students who had averages above 9.50 enjoyed scholarships. Due to budgetary austerity, student scholarships have also been changed. They were also left without the 90% free transport by train, regardless of the route in Romania. Now they can go almost free of charge only from their hometown to the one where they have their university.
School mergers and remedial classes
The austerity measures also led to a process of merging schools with few students. About 500 educational units lost their legal personality and became affiliated structures of other schools. Gabi Bartic also considers this measure good in substance, but talks, again, about the problems in implementation. “The OECD has been recommending us for years in all PISA reports to merge small schools. I think that actually small schools in small towns are not places of education, they are places where the elders of the village park their cars in warm places. Again, we have an implementation problem. There are situations where we agree, but the child has no minibus to take him to the school where we have moved him. Or yes, we study, but we don’t pay attention to the quality we offer in the big school”.
New school year it also came with another novelty: the introduction of remedial hours. Teachers are obliged to allocate two hours a week to these classes, and in high school and gymnasium 25% of the total number of hours of a subject must be dedicated to consolidation. The new measure is intended to directly attack functional illiteracy, said the Minister of Education. Teachers criticized the increased workload, the burden of the curriculum and the lack of logistical support. “I think that any extra hour at school is an hour gained for the child, but if it is well thought out, if it is well organized. I’ve heard of places where, in school, remedial classes start at 7 so as not to disrupt the normal schedule. I heard about two classes of 30 students each doing remedial lessons together, sometimes with one teacher, sometimes with the other. This isn’t remedial education, it’s babysitting for another hour. The way in which remedial education is thought of is to work applied with each child on his needs”says Gabi Bartic.
Functional illiteracy, cataloged as a threat to national security
Functional illiteracy is this year’s key phrase. The Minister of Education categorized the problem as a threat to national security.
,,When you produce 50% functional illiteracy, we can no longer function like this, because we put the country at risk. We have been measuring this for over a decade at least, I think more, but we have been measuring this for over a decade, we bring into society too many young people with functional illiteracy, vulnerable to manipulation, to conspiracy theories, and then we are surprised that the country does not work and that it is not modernizing”, Daniel David declared at Interviuriure Adevărul.
Later, in a podcast of the Save the Children organization, he said that teachers have the greatest responsibility for the situation:
“Don’t worry, I don’t want to say 100%, but most of it. In the end, children come with a normal level of intelligence and a level of creativity, so to speak. It is the job of teachers to, starting from a normality, transfer those skills to the children.”
The statement sparked outrage among teachers, with many pointing the finger at families. However, education specialist Gabi Bartic says that, obviously, the school cannot wash its hands of responsibility.
“When we have a child who comes from an unhealthy environment at home (violent, poor or vulnerable), the role of the school institution is to educate that child. We do not have a school whose mission is <
The new programs, the hop from the end of the year
The end of the year came to education with the launch in public consultation of the new programs for the 9th grade. The curriculum for Romanian Language and Literature caused the most discussion, because of the writers proposed to be studied and the chronological ordering of the literature. More than 200 contemporary authors, researchers, directors and university professors asked the ministry to completely rethink the program, through a memorandum. ,“The new Romanian language and literature program for the 9th grade brings back to schools an outdated model, completely disconnected from the realities of the students and the world in which they live”the document states. Among the signatories are the writers Mircea Cărtărescu and Ioana Pârvulescu, the director Radu Jude, but also researchers of the Romanian Academy. And the National Student Council criticized the proposal.
A few days later, another memo appeared, defending the curriculum, signed by other writers and university professors. “Who is afraid of the historical approach to Romanian literature?” it is called the document, which brings arguments in support of studying the literature in chronological order. The signatories give as examples Italy and France, countries with a rich literary history, which use the same approach. Among the names supporting the proposed program are the writers Doina Ruști and Gabriela Adameșteanu, as well as two foreign university professors, from Cambridge and Oxford universities.
The resignation of Daniel David
Monday, December 22Daniel David resigned from the position of Minister of Education, exactly one year after he accepted the portfolio.
“Without being a politician, I accepted the mandate of Minister of Education and Research with the conviction that, at a difficult moment for our country, the duty to the public good must prevail over any personal or professional convenience. I tried, during this mandate, to exercise my office with rigor, honesty and respect towards people and state institutions, doing what was in my power according to reason and the common good. Today, I consider this duty fulfilled. I didn’t choose these times, nor the problems of these times, just how to face them.”said the university professor upon relinquishing his position.
