Public consultation: Olympian students, in high school without the National Assessment

The Ministry of Education and Research has put into public consultation the methodology that regulates admission to the 9th grade, in the 2026-2027 school year, for Olympian students. The draft order stipulates that middle school graduates who have achieved top results in school Olympiads or international competitions recognized by the ministry will be able to enroll in high school without taking the National Assessment. According to the document published by the Ministry of Education and Research, the measure targets students who have obtained the first prize in the national stage of school Olympiads organized and financed by the ministry or the first, second or third prizes (or gold, silver and bronze medals) in officially recognized international competitions. According to the draft methodology, these students will be able to be admitted to high school based on their performance during middle school, without having to take the national exam at the end of the 8th grade. However, the procedure requires compliance with clear conditions: registration can be made in a single county; the choice of high school must respect the correspondence between the field of the Olympiad and the profile or specialization of the high school; registration is carried out based on an official list that establishes the connection between the competition and the educational path. For example, a student who won an award at the mathematics or computer science Olympiad could opt for a high school with a real profile, while a prizewinner at the foreign language Olympiad could choose a high school with a humanities or bilingual profile. The ministry specifies that the methodology is not yet final. The final form of the order will be established after analyzing the observations received during the public consultation period. The institution announced that the project will also be discussed within the Social Dialogue Commission at the ministry level, before official adoption. "The final form will be approved following the analysis of the feedback received on the e-mail address dedicated to public consultation and after the meeting of the Social Dialogue Commission,” the ministry's representatives said.

• Educational policy already used in the system

The direct admission of Olympiad students is not new to the Romanian education system. In recent years, the ministry has maintained special mechanisms for students with exceptional performance, considering that these represent a form of recognition of academic excellence. Supporters of the system claim that the measure stimulates performance and reduces exam pressure on students who have already demonstrated top results. Critics, however, point out that the procedure must be applied transparently to avoid possible inequities between students. Even with this exception, the overwhelming majority of eighth-grade students will continue to be admitted to high school through the standard mechanism based on the National Evaluation, which establishes the hierarchy at the national level. The exception for Olympians applies only to a relatively small number of students, but it has an important symbolic role in the educational system: recognizing academic performance at the highest level.