Education Minister Proposes Pact for a Decade of Education and Research

Daniel David, Minister of Education and Research, proposed, in the Senate plenary, the signing of a national pact for a decade dedicated to education and research. The minister launched the idea of a ten-year pact, based on three main directions: The education and research budget should not decrease from one year to the next; Keeping education and research together, as interdependent fields - "the generation of knowledge cannot be separated from its dissemination”; Aligning major measures with European Union and OECD standards. "If we want to do something for education, we need a common commitment for a decade of education and research,” declared Daniel David.

• Criticism of old paradigms

The minister stressed that the current problems of the Romanian school have their roots in the past:

"The paradigms in our educational system come from the communist period. We have dedicated teachers and children as intelligent and creative as those in the West, but they cannot function in an outdated system." He warned that the high level of functional illiteracy - almost 50% - represents a national security risk.

• The danger of a "failed civilization"

Daniel David drew attention to the fact that the lack of real reforms can lead to dramatic effects:

"If we are not careful, the country will become a failed civilization, under obscurantism in education. In research and development, we will end up a technological colony," said the minister.

In the context of criticism regarding the school reorganization and budget cuts, the minister specified that no tenured professorships were lost and that qualified substitutes remained in the system. "We are not laying people off or cutting salaries. It was a key condition for me," David stressed. The measures taken would also ensure the payment of salaries and scholarships until the end of the year.

• Baccalaureat results, "unfairly imputed"

In response to the opposition's criticism of the poor results from the second session of the Baccalaureate, the minister stated that he cannot be held responsible for the exams held before or immediately after taking office. "I have been a minister since December 24. I cannot assume the results that are not related to my mandate," he said.

Daniel David acknowledged that Romanian education suffers from systemic problems that have accumulated over decades, without being addressed coherently. "We all know that education has problems. But when a compulsory education system turns 50% of children into functional illiterates, then we are dealing with a systemic crisis," the minister concluded.