Romanian education system in crisis – World Vision issues petition

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Effects of the financial crisis continue to reverberate across the country, and the education sector is taking a direct hit. Budget cuts mean children from targeted schools will have to relocate to the nearest larger schools, leaving a huge question mark on the future of rural students who may have to travel significant distances to reach school.

Until this moment there has been no national strategy in place to make sure children in rural areas will continue to have access to education Although the real extent and implications of this decision is difficult to evaluate, parents, teachers and civil society are already making their opinions heard.

“Romanian government representatives always tell us that some generations will have to sacrifice until the educational system will be ‘settled down’. But, who is giving them the right to sacrifice my children for their educational experiences? ” said Georgiana Neagu, mother of two students from the rural area of Cobadin in Constanta County.

Many parents are concerned about the consequences that relocation might have on their children’s education. Some say they won’t allow their children to go to school in crowded school buses, sitting on the benches between the bus chairs. They prefer to keep their children at home, particularly if the State will not make more buses available for children’s transportation.

Mihaela Gumea, president of the National Federation of Parents Associations believes that “the educational system doesn’t put children’s interest in the centre of its attention, but teachers’ requests. More and more norms were artificially created for teachers, which contribute to a constant overloading of the student’s educational programmes. In this case we can’t talk about a quality education”.

This, in stark contrast to Germany where according to the 2010 budget, ‘vital investments in education and research are a top priority in the present economic crisis’. The Government of Germany is actually increasing the education budget by 9%.

Within the Global Campaign for Education, running from 19 - 25 April under the slogan “1Goal – Education for All”, World Vision Romania conceived a petition addressed to the Romanian Presidency, Government, Education Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry.

“World Vision Romania started to monitor the actual closing of schools in more than 200 rural communities where the organisation is working. Until this moment there has been no national strategy in place to make sure children in rural areas will continue to have access to education, which sets an alarm bell for us”, said Daniela Buzducea, World Vision Romania’s Advocacy Director.

“Through the petition, we want to draw the attention of the Presidency and Government to the fact that Romania has, as a European state, according to UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a double responsibility concerning the right to education: to ensure a quality education for all Romanian children and to promote children’s education as a principle of development for countries in development, at the international level”, she added.

Because of all these wrong measures, we will have classes with 50 children, like we had in the communist period. It will be very difficult to ensure a quality education in such conditions Job cuts for teachers is another problem which will affect children’s education. “18,000 jobs were lost last year and another 15,000 will be this year”, said Simon Hancescu, Vice-president of The Federation of Free Teacher Unions in Education.

Romanian teachers are already staging protests in front of the Government headquarters, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labour and will stage other picketing actions in April, followed in the end, by a general strike. Some teachers say they will stop recording the marks and grades obtained by their students.

“Teachers, government and local authorities are blaming each other but the real ones who suffer are our children. Because of all these wrong measures, we will have classes with 50 children, like we had in the communist period. It will be very difficult to ensure a quality education in such conditions”, said Georgiana Neagu.

*World Vision’s petition is available online at http://petitie.worldvision.ro

Background information:

The school drop–out rate in Romania tripled from 2000 to 2007, among students of the 1st to 8th grade. In 2007, one in five students abandoned school, the early school leaving rate being 19.2%. According to a UNICEF report, the financial crisis increased school absence by 10 percent and will also increase the rate of school drop-out.