Chaos at the beginning of the school year

The opening of the 2025-2026 school year, scheduled for today, September 8, 2025, is set to be one of the most tense in recent years, marked by large-scale protests, calls for boycotts and legislative changes that have sparked dissatisfaction throughout the education system. According to the order of the Minister of Education No. 3,463 of March 4, 2025, students and preschoolers should begin classes today according to the structure of the school year, but teachers' unions continue the protests started more than a month ago in front of the Ministry of Education. For the first day of school, union leaders announced last week a boycott of activities, which means that in many educational institutions the opening festivities will not take place, and students will not receive textbooks, as was the tradition.

Also today, a huge rally is scheduled, with over 30,000 teachers and auxiliary staff, organized by the Federation of Free Education Unions and the "Spiru Haret" Federation, in Victoriei Square, followed by a march to Cotroceni Palace. The unions have sent an appeal to teachers and school inspectors not to intimidate those participating in the protest: "Let's show together that the education system is united in the face of measures that undermine its foundation. Do not intimidate them, do not clip their wings, just because a passing minister asks you to do so. United we are strong!", the federations' statement reads. Trade unions accuse that "the new legislation, adopted without real consultation and without a serious impact study, has generated a series of problems”, including the increase in the teaching norm, the merging of educational units, the increase in the number of students per class and the increase in the obligation to have a chair for principals and inspectors.

The most controversial change in law 141/2025 is the reduction by approximately 50% of the gross hourly rate for teachers. Starting with September 1, 2025, the remuneration for overtime is calculated by relating the gross salary to the average number of working hours per month, established annually by the Government, and not to the actual number of teaching hours, as was previously the case. According to GD 1506/2024, the average is 165,334 hours per month, and the gross minimum wage per economy is 4,050 lei, which means a legal gross minimum remuneration of 24,496 lei per hour. After the new formula is implemented, a novice teacher with a master's degree in teaching ends up being paid 22 lei per hour, "the same as an unqualified day laborer.”

Education Minister Daniel David acknowledged that "overall income will decrease for those who are also paid by the hour,” even if basic salaries remain unchanged. Union leader Simion Hăncescu warns that many teachers will no longer accept hourly pay, while others will be left with reduced salaries due to the impossibility of covering the additional hours resulting from the increase in teaching hours.

The new law also brings changes for school principals and assistant principals, who will be required to teach 40 hours per month, or 10 hours per week, respectively, during working hours, without being able to receive additional remuneration. Unions consider this measure an additional burden and are calling for its repeal.

Despite the pressure, Minister Daniel David declared last Friday that "school will start on Monday” and that "children will be welcomed to school by teachers”, even though he acknowledges poor cooperation with the unions: "I have always invited the unions to get involved in fiscal-budgetary measures. I understand that they are fulfilling their role, but the role of a minister is to ensure that the system works”.

Regarding the unions' call for a boycott, Daniel David said: "I do not want to enter into legal discussions. My message is this: children will be welcomed to school by teachers”.

Union leaders, on the other hand, are sending a clear message: "No kind of didactic activity will be carried out”, declared Marius Nistor, president of the "Spiru Haret” Federation. He urged parents and students to join the protest in Victoriei Square: "Parents should come with us to protest. Students, too, because maybe, if the Government does not listen to the voice of teachers, then the united voices of students, students, parents, and us, will unclog their ears and they will understand that these measures are wrong."

• Students and students support the teachers' protest

He announced, through a press release, that the National Council of Students is also joining the protest, whose representatives have declared that they will boycott the opening festivities of the new school year and have launched a call for students to wear white armbands as a symbol of opposition to the austerity measures.

"The National Council of Students joins the education unions and supports the boycott of the opening of the school year festivities. Solidarity with the unions is a natural step in defending the right to quality education. The state has the obligation to treat education as an essential investment in the future", the cited press release states.

In the same vein, the National Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania also expresses solidarity with the teachers' protest and also requests the return to the scholarship fund granted for the entire calendar year, the increase in the calculation percentage and the reintroduction of facilities for rail transport.

"The money allocated for education is an investment, not an expense. The school and university year cannot start like this", warns ANOSR, in the press release issued.

• Returning to school becomes a luxury: huge cost differences between regions

The beginning of the school year is no longer just a matter of emotions and readjustment, but also a financial burden strongly felt by parents, and the figures clearly show a polarized market, according to a study conducted by MKOR and presented at the end of last week.

The cited source shows that the average amount allocated by parents for a child at the start of the new school year amounts to 450 lei, but in reality this value hides major differences: in the private system, parents spend an average of 660 lei, over 50% more than in the public system, where the amount drops to 430 lei.

The study reveals that the discrepancies are also accentuated by geographical criteria - in the west of the country, parents reach a budget of 590 lei, while in the south, allocations drop dramatically to 330 lei, a difference of 78% that speaks of structural inequalities.

Expenses related to the first day of school increase with the age of the children: for clothes, the budget goes up from 470 lei in kindergarten to 640 lei in high school, and investments in IT products explode by 48%, from 850 lei in primary education to 1260 lei in high school. When it comes to shopping, 51% of parents remain loyal to physical stores, but 41% prefer a hybrid strategy, combining online with offline, a trend that reaches its peak in Bucharest with 52%. Online is dominated by marketplaces (62%), followed by specialized stores (45%), and the decision criteria remain a delicate balance between quality (50%), price (48%) and the child's preference (42%).

In parallel with the pressure of costs, meditations have become an almost inevitable norm, which deepens the differences between families. The MKOR study shows that 44% of parents pay for additional tutoring, at an average cost of 100 lei per session. Mathematics is by far the most requested subject, with 92% of students taking tutoring, followed by Romanian (59%) and foreign languages (33%). The phenomenon is amplified in high school, where two-thirds of students end up taking additional tutoring, compared to only one in five at primary level. However, access is highly stratified: 58% of high-income families and 51% of those with higher education invest in tutoring, compared to only 34% of low-income parents and 13% of those with general education. This difference only confirms the lack of trust in public schools and the perpetuation of a system in which performance depends on the family's financial and educational resources.

Beyond money and extra classes, another reality is emerging and putting pressure on parents: bullying has become the main anxiety in 2025. Almost four out of ten parents identify it as their biggest concern, above any expense or logistical detail related to the beginning of the year. Mothers feel the phenomenon more acutely (46%) than fathers (31%), and parents of preschoolers report it most often, with one in two being concerned about aggression between children. Bucharest and Ilfov lead in terms of intensity of fears, with 44% of parents concerned about the emotional safety of their children, and those with higher education add the quality of the school curriculum to the list (31%).

"In 2025, going back to school is no longer just about the shopping cart. Parents are telling us clearly: children's emotional safety weighs more than the shopping bill for their schoolbag. Bullying is a topic that can no longer be postponed, for schools, communities and for all of us,” warns Cori Cimpoca, founder of MKOR.

Taken together with the results of the "Education from the Romanian Perspective” study from May 2025, these data show that parents are constantly living between cost frustration, the need for performance and the desire for safety. Romanians want a school that trains informed and educated people (70%), but identify the lack of a coherent national vision (48%) and chronic underfunding (48%) as the main obstacles. In the absence of real answers, parents choose parallel and costly solutions, from tutoring to consumer strategies, while the fear of bullying remains a warning that education, in its current form, risks losing its fundamental mission: that of protecting and shaping the future.

• Structure of the new school year

In this tense context, the official structure of the 2025-2026 school year provides for 36 weeks of classes, divided into five modules and five holidays. The first module begins on September 8 and lasts until October 24, followed by the autumn holiday between October 25 and November 2. The second module takes place between November 3 and December 19, then the winter holiday until January 7. Module three is scheduled for the period January 8 - February 6, 2026, with the mobile ski holiday between February 9 and March 1, established by the school inspectorates. Module four will take place between February 6 or February 23/March 2, as the case may be, until April 3, followed by the Easter holiday between April 4 and 14. The last module is scheduled between April 15 and June 19, 2026, and the summer holiday begins on June 20.

Eighth-grade students will finish their courses earlier, on June 12, 2026, and high school students in grades 12 and 13 will finish the school year on June 5, 2026. Students in technological high schools and vocational schools will continue until June 26, 2026.

The school year will end with national exams. For middle school graduates, the National Assessment begins on June 22, 2026, with the Romanian Language and Literature test, followed by the Mathematics test on June 24. The final results will be posted on July 9, 2026.

For high school students, the 2026 Baccalaureate begins on June 8, with the competency tests, and continues with the written tests starting on June 29. The final results will be posted on July 13, 2026.