Education is free in Romania, but for many children, high school remains an impossible dream. Over 56% of students do not continue their studies after the 8th grade due to poverty, and in the rural area, almost half are not able to take note 5 to the National Assessment.
Children in the rural area in the school yard. Photo World Vision Romania
In Romania, too many children become adults before the weather. I live with responsibilities that should come only in a decade. Education is not just about subjects, but about the chance at a better life. Costs with transport, supplies, accommodation or food, but also the lack of emotional and educational support push many of them to give up dreams, before they take shape.
Too poor to go to high school
World Vision Romania tries to break this circle of poverty through support programs for vulnerable students, such as “I want in the 9th grade”, offering them scholarships, mentoring, educational activities and camps. The stake is a simple but crucial one: to give these children the chance to move on. This massive abandonment of education after the gymnasium not only limits the individual chances of young people, but deeply affects the economic and social development of the whole country. The solutions require integrated interventions: real financial support, counseling, school infrastructure and cultural changes.
Problems do not stop for money
In 2024, 42% of the students in the rural area failed to obtain an average of over 5 at the National Assessment. About 40% of the 8th grade students in the villages are under this threshold, while in the urban area only 5.6% obtained average below 7, a report of the World Vision Romania is shown.
The differences in performance between rural and urban reflect not the lack of intelligence, but the lack of resources, support and minimal learning conditions.
Another essential factor: 14% of the parents in the rural area say they do nothing when their children do not handle. The reasons vary: the lack of their own education, the lack of time or distrust that the school could change the future of children.
Big dreams in small villages: children who do not give up
Behind the hard statistics are real faces, children who do not give up school and fight, day by day, with poverty, isolation or lack of support. The representatives of World Vision Romania gather and make the stories of these students who, despite the difficulties, choose to hope and learn.
Denisa, a student in the eighth grade in Iași County, learns evening to fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor. “Biology is my favorite matter and I want to draw hard to become a doctor in the future. Sometimes I think with fear of the competition of good high schools in the city, especially since I come from rural areas but I hope to get over this fear“She says. She was accepted in the” I want 9th grade “program, which offers her mentoring and educational support.
Constantin Silvian, 16, from Vâlcea, is a student in the profile of nature sciences and dreams of following the Polytechnic or the Faculty of Physics. It is passionate about robotics, chess and SF movies. With a cheerful and open nature, Constantin always seeks to learn something new and exceed his limits.
Ioana Daniela, also from Vâlcea, is a conscientious student with the average 9.86 in grades V -VIII. He wants to become a police officer and works constantly for this goal. The program helps it to continue its educational path despite the material obstacles.
Alina Maria, 18, from Iași, is in the 11th grade in the profile of nature sciences. He is still looking for his way – he oscillates between medical assistance and the Police Academy – but he knows for sure that education is the only way that can open his world. She is passionate about music, cooked and reading, and works on the skills of personal communication and development through the extracurricular activities offered by the program.
There are only four of the thousands of children who, far from the lights of the cities, build their future with ambition, sleepless nights and the support of people who believe in the power of education.
What results does the program have
“For every child who goes on to high school, we break the poverty circle in a family, says Andreea Bujor, World Vision Romania. The program has supported over 1,000 students from 19 counties and 400 rural communities, obtaining a 100% promotability rate at Baccalaureate, ” Andrea Bujor Coordinator programs.
In 2024, 86.7% of high school students took the BAC, and over 83% of the graduates went to college.
Rural Romania is in danger of remaining without educated generations. Children who could build the future choose or are forced to give up on it. If we do not invest now, we will pay later – with an increasingly unequal society, devoid of educated workforce and citizens prepared for the challenges of the modern world.
