The Minister of Education, Daniel David, reacted to recent criticisms of reducing the importance of history in high school. In a post on his personal blog, he rejected “conspiracies and misinformation” and appealed to a responsible dialogue.
Daniel David, Minister of Education. Archive
The official urged responsibility, decency, respect and conjugated effort for and in the interest of children. The minister stated, in the context of the controversies that came online, that the new proposals strengthen, do not weaken, the study of history.
“To suspect that I would disadvantage the national history in the new framework projects for high school, when for me patriotism and Romanianism are some of the central values, it shows a lot about this suspicion … and nothing good!”, writes the minister.
Daniel David explains how he thought of distributing history hours at high school
Daniel David’s statement comes from a comment of the president of the Romanian History Teachers Association, Mihai Manea, who pointed out that in the new framework plan projects, the history discipline would record an “absolutely significant recoil” in the 11th and 9th grades XII.
The minister categorically rejected this interpretation, arguing that the new structure of the framework plan emphasizes national history even from the first years of high school, just to reach all students, regardless of the chain followed: “In the common trunk we included, as it is clear in proposals, that the steps should be focused on national history faster (from the 9th or XA classes), because we reach all the students, regardless of the chain ( theoretical/vocational/technological), while in the 12th grade those who are not in the humanistic specialization do not give sufficient time to national history, investing more in the materials of specialized baccalaureate ”according to Daniel David.
The minister also emphasized that history remains part of the common trunk and that educational units have the freedom to include several hours of history if students and schools require this. In his post, Daniel David firmly condemned the spread of “conspiracy and misinformation” and appealed to a real and balanced consultation: “Let’s stop the conspiracies/misinformation about disciplines and framework plans together, to focus on future constructions for our children and for our education system, through normal consultation/debate.”
Public debates could be extended until a consensus is reached
He reaffirmed the opening of the Ministry of Education to the proposals of civil society and specialists and announced that if, after five weeks of public consultation, a widely accepted consensus will not be reached, the process will be resumed. “If after these five weeks of public consultation/national debates, I will not be able to come in May with a widely accepted variant by the educational and society environment, considering that the target is the implementation of the 2026-2027 school year, we will resume the whole process When we get this! ”, Daniel David concluded.
The framework plans for the high school, in the project stage, were put on Friday evening in public debate by the Ministry of Education. The debate is open until March 6, 2025, according to the official announcement.
