The authorities’ fight against school dropouts will be even fiercer, and teachers’ salaries will reach the level of health workers. Technological and dual education will be funded and developed in such a way as to provide us with the specialists and tradesmen we currently lack. Schools will be modernized, the curriculum will be adapted for the labor market, and students will be encouraged to think freely and critically. These are just some of the promises of the most important candidates who joined the fight for Cotroceni. A fierce battle on the Romanian education front, which however needs a fundamental restructuring, experts say.
14 candidates entered the race for Cotroceni. Source: archive
It looks good on paper what the presidential candidates promise to resuscitate the education system, but there is a long way from the promise to the implementation. Some may even need two terms to complete their plans.
Nicolae Ciucă: “No child should be left out of school”
“The problem of school dropouts must be discussed lucidly and responsibly”, it can be read in Nicolae Ciucă’s program for Education. He recently stated that no child should be left out of school. The liberal touches on at least three sensitive points in his plan for Education, namely school dropout rates, teachers’ salaries and social programs for students, writes scoala9.ro.
The PNL presidential candidate promises teachers that by 2028 their salaries will increase and reach the level of those in health. Students, on the other hand, will benefit from the “Healthy Meal” program that will be extended to all educational units in the country. Ciucă is also counting on the development of dual education in Romania and promises to complete the construction of the 29 campuses. In the vision of Nicolae Ciucă, the Romanian school must align with the reality in which we live. This implies the integration of leading technologies such as artificial intelligence, data science, robotics, automation in the education process. Nicolae Ciucă promises to finance the research and to deposit the management structures in the universities.
Marcel Ciolacu promises money to modernize schools
Mihnea Costoiu, PSD vice-president, recently stated that “what we propose is the transformation of Romania into a research and innovation hub. Throughout the entire content of the government plan, you will find measures resulting from this paradigm shift.”
The Social Democratic Party promises to invest six billion euros, a good part of European funds, to modernize schools throughout the country. As for the PSD candidate who entered the race for Cotroceni, Marcel Ciolacu, he emphasizes remedial learning programs, expanding the “Second Chance” program, adapting the school curriculum to the needs of the labor market and establishing centers of excellence in education, for children with high academic potential and for Olympians.
Ciolacu promises teachers salaries according to performance but also the debureaucratization of the education system. However, one of the major objectives is to combat and stop and prevent drug use in schools through a reform of the National Anti-Drug Agency. This will be implemented by shifting the focus of anti-drug policies from punishment and sanctions on consumers to prevention and assistance and by creating a network of Integrated Addiction Assistance Centers for minors. Ciolacu promises students financial education, health and environmental education, psychological and career counseling.
Elena Lasconi will bring to schools a curriculum adapted to the reality in which we live
USR Senator Ștefan Pălărie recently declared that “we have to revolutionize school contents. Today students arrive at school demotivated, they drag their feet, they find no joy in studying some things they don’t find relevant. In the global competition for innovation, for a specialized labor market, you can’t help but have digital skills and AI components,” he specified.
Elena Lasconi, presidential candidate from the Union Save Romania (USR) party, wants to offer parents and children the right to choose their school, but an adapted and flexible curriculum. In this way, children will be able to choose some of the subjects they want to study.
And in Elena Lasconi’s education plan, the expansion of the “School after school” program, which offers children a hot and healthy meal, can be found. The USR candidate also thought about the parents of young children, in nursery and kindergarten. She promises them the expansion of the National Nursery Program of the PNRR and the simplification of procedures to establish private nurseries. Elena Lasconi has not forgotten the parents whose children have special educational requirements and wants to improve the system in such a way that their integration becomes possible not only at the declarative level.
Lasconi also wants to attract young teachers to the system through competitive salaries, a teacher performance incentive fund and the eradication of school dropouts.
George Simion will bring back uniforms to schools and crack down on LGBTQ propaganda
The GOLD Party, through the voice of George Simion, would like a conservative education system. It focuses on funding vocational schools so that children can learn a trade. Also, those from the AUR are considering the mandatory introduction of school uniforms and scholarships granted to students for studies abroad. “We must be inspired by the past, when students like Mihai Eminescu were financially supported by the Romanian state to study abroad”, Simeon stated. It promises higher salaries for teachers and to attract them to the rolling areas “housing and other facilities. But the biggest “pain” of those from AUR is the LGBTQ propaganda that, according to them, is carried out in schools in Romania and that must be stopped.
