Every year, starting from 2007, Teacher's Day is celebrated on June 5 in Romania. If until now it was only marked by extracurricular activities during working hours, starting from 2024 it becomes a free day for education staff and, implicitly, for students.
On Teacher's Day, teachers and students will have a day off, archive photo
“It's a national premiere. In 2024, throughout the country, June 5 is a day off. Until last year, the only inspectorate that considered June 5 as a day off, I think, was the School Inspectorate of the Municipality of Bucharest (ISMB), and the rest was a day on which specific activities, other than teaching, were carried out“, said Marius Nistor, the president of the “Spiru Haret” Education Trade Union Federation.
The day off on June 5 is one of the 17 novelties for teachers and other employees in Education provided for in the new collective labor agreement at sector level, which entered into force in 2023, following the general strike in Education, informs Edupedu.
The President of the Federation of Trade Unions in Education “Spiru Haret” specified that this day cannot be recovered and that establishing it as a day off was the only way to mark it, because the employees in the system never had salary benefits, as happens in other sectors in similar circumstances.
“It's the only way to mark this day. As long as in other fields, when it is the worker's day in a field, bonuses and other rights of a salary nature negotiated through the employment contract are automatically granted, we do not have this possibility of negotiating bonuses and then our only possibility is to grant a day free to mark important moments. Let's also point out that October 5 is International Education Day and June 5 – Teacher's Day”, stated Marius Nistor.
Teachers and students will also have a day off on October 5 this year, when Education Day is celebrated.
“It's about respect for this socio-professional category. (…) We have no other possibility, the legislation does not allow us otherwise. If the legislation does not allow us to negotiate salary rights in a budget structure, then the only thing we can afford is to at least get this recognition of the importance of the two days“, added union leader Marius Nistor.
