After this year’s experience, when various national exams were held on days with extreme temperatures, the Minister of Education, Ligia Deca, considers it necessary to evaluate the impact of climate change in the long term, which will help to better organize them.
Ligia Deca, the Minister of Education, talks about changing the exam calendar. Archive photo
During a consultation with the public environment responsible for climate action and the university environment, organized on Monday by the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Deca spoke about the school and university infrastructure that can hardly support the organization of exams in the months when “there is a real chance of orange or red codes from a climatic point of view”. The minister also referred to people’s ability to manage professional activity in months with excessive temperatures or in periods with extreme phenomena, according to Agerpres.
“We held the tenure exam this year under Code Red. This means changing the approach to a major process that takes place every year, that takes place in a large number of centers nationwide and that requires a different approach. We are already talking about changes in calendars, national exams, changes in structures, for example the correlation of the license exams with the stages of the tenure and position exams, in such a way that they will no longer be with them in July, because we are not leading. As a school and university infrastructure, we no longer organize exams in the months when we have real chances of orange or red codes from a climatic point of view”, said Ligia Deca.
Also, the Minister of Education explained that a matter that must be taken into account in these conditions is labor productivity, showing that in the south of Romania there are counties that are deserting.
“It’s a matter that must also be taken into account in terms of labor productivity – and we don’t have studies about that. We have countries that have already adapted their work schedule for a long time, because they were in a latitude zone that required this, but we have not taken this problem seriously yet – and we have counties that are deserting in southern Romania. I think that including for our internal use, of the ministries, we need an assessment of the impact of climate change for 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, because it is no longer a question of the future or science fiction. Today we had two meetings on everything that means adapting national exam methodologies to the new situation. It would be unconscious on our part to act as if nothing is happening around us”, added the Minister of Education.
In his opinion, undergraduate, master’s, doctorate university study programs, whether they focus on research or are professional, must highlight more clearly this component related to the impact of climate change.
“This concern for everything that means how we, as a society, prepare for climate change is not a matter that will suddenly hit us, it is a strategic concern of the Government, of the central authorities for a long time. There are strategies aimed at both the societal and economic areas, as well as our field of education”, said Ligia Deca.
