Radio România Internațional

Tag: exam

  • November 17, 2024

    November 17, 2024

    VISIT The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis, currently on a visit to Germany, has talks today with the president of the Bundestag, after a meeting with the president of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier yesterday in which they discussed security issues and the support Romania and Germany will continue to provide to Ukraine. Klaus Iohannis will give an address today at a ceremony commemorating the victims of war and dictatorship. The Romanian official’s agenda also includes a meeting with the president of the Christian Democratic Union, Friedrich Merz, whose party is seen as the most likely to win the early elections due in February 2025. On Friday, Klaus Iohannis had talks with the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, with whom he discussed Romania’s full Schengen accession, among other topics.

     

     

    EU Romania’s PM Marcel Ciolacu has a working visit to Brussels scheduled for Monday. He will have meetings with NATO’s new secretary general, Mark Rutte, with the president-elect of the European Council, António Costa and with the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. Marcel Ciolacu is accompanied by a governmental delegation which includes the foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu and the defence minister Angel Tîlvăr. The visit to Brussels comes ahead of the start of a new EU institutional cycle, following the elections held this June, and ahead of the endorsement of the new Strategic Agenda for 2024-2029.

     

     

    OBITUARY The former gymnastics coach Bela Karoly died at the age of 82. The cause of death has not been made public, but he was known to have had various health problems over the past few years. Bela Karoly coached the world-famous Nadia Comăneci, who got the first “perfect 10” in the history of the Olympic Games in Montreal, in 1976, followed by further outstanding performances. Karoly fell out of favour with the communist regime when he criticised the arbitration at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. A year later he defected to the US, where he came to coach a number of American gymnasts, some of whom became Olympic or world champions. Karoly and his wife chose to stay away from the public eye, after being targeted by allegations regarding the brutal methods he used in training.

     

     

    MEDICAL SCHOOLS In the university cities of Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca (centre), Târgu Mureş (centre), Craiova (south-west), Iaşi (north-east) and Timişoara (west), residency admission exam take place today, with over 10,000 medical school graduates in Romania sitting. They compete over the 4,961 places and 237 positions available, meaning an average 2 candidates per place and 44 candidates per position. The exam is a multiple-choice test with 200 questions in each sub-field and a duration of 4 hours. Romania has been struggling for years with a major shortage of human resources in the healthcare system. According to the National Statistics Institute, at the end of 2023 Romania had 72,740 physicians, i.e. 357 per 100,000 people. This is below countries like Bulgaria (with 480 physicians per 100,000 people), Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Cyprus, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.

     

     

    SAVINGS Nearly three-quarters of Romanians are concerned with price increases, and say they will spend less these holidays, according to an EU-wide survey. Moreover, some economists predict a complicated year ahead and call on people to save money. Apart from simple methods like setting a monthly budget and strictly monitoring expenses, experts have a savings solution for low-income categories as well. The Centre for Banking Dispute Settlement recommends the 52-week method, in which a person saves as much money as the number of the week in question, to reach EUR 277 during a year. Nearly 40% of Romanian consumers plan to spend between EUR 100 and 200 for their Christmas shopping.

     

     

    FORESTRY CODE Romania’s new Forestry Code, aimed at preventing wood theft, is waiting for the green light from Parliament’s specialist committees before being discussed in the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body in this respect. The draft legislation still requires positive reports from the committees on agriculture and legal affairs, after being approved by the committee on environment. Several amendments have been introduced in the process, concerning among other things the planting of green areas around cities, access to all forests on foot or by bicycle and pre-emptive rights to top-quality materials for Romanian furniture producers. The new law will punish theft by seizure of the wood and of the vehicle used in the theft. A National Forestry Council will also be set up, to monitor compliance with ethical and professional standards among forestry staff. The new Forestry Code is a benchmark in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and the government intends to have it endorsed by December. (AMP)

  • Baccademia: the baccalaureate exam for everybody

    Baccademia: the baccalaureate exam for everybody

    The 2024 session of the baccalaureate exam in Romania has seen the highest promotion rate in the last decade, accounting for 76.4%. Notwithstanding, the maturity exam has been frightening for many of the candidates. Reason enough for a couple of students in Cluj, central Transylvania, to have an initiative meant to make the experience easier for those colleagues who were lass lucky. The students successfully passed the baccalaureate exam with high grades and started Baccademia, a project that seeks to help candidates pass the baccalaureate exam with no trouble at all.

    Bianca Ionescu is the founder of the Baccademia project. Here is what she told us:

    “Our story actually began as early as 2022. That year I passed the baccalaureate exam, with a 10 in History and a 9.80 grade in the Romanian Language and literature test. Even though I competed in the National Romanian Language and Literature Olympiad ever since secondary school and I still competed all throughout the high school years, I was still stressed out as a 12th-grade, senior high-school pupil since the baccalaureate exam was drawing near. And then, having taken the exam, I opted for digitizing the materials I myself had been structuring.

    It took me a good six months to structure the subject matters all by myself. In 2022 I started helping pupils online. I shared those materials, free of charge, on an Instagram account and practically the generation that passed the exam in 2023 was the first one I helped. And then the idea of Baccademia began to take shape only when the pupils sent me their Baccalaureate exam grades. For instance, of the roughly 3,000 pupils I helped, most of them passed the exam with a grade above 9.50. Some of them even got a neat 10. There even were people who got very high grades having sat in for the exam 10 or 20 years later in life! And, practically, that very moment I realized my materials did have a positive impact on them.”

    Bianca Ionescu has been a high-school student until recently. Here is what she went on to say:

    “Pupils got fed up with bulky books, with a typical black-and-white print and full of details that were not required for the baccalaureate exam, and I could understand their frustration since I had been there before. We’re in a country where we can nonetheless see the situation ahead of the exams did not change that much, it does not improve as against the previous years. 10 months have passed since I founded Baccademia and we make the difference, somehow, as our team is only made of students who got a 10 in the baccalaureate exam or in some of the subject matters. And, also, all our collections are coloured and synthetic. It also includes, for instance, pieces of advice, solved tests or jokes, sometimes, jokes today’s generation is sure to understand very clearly. “

    Irina Selagea is the author of the Geography handbook. Also, she is responsible for the interactive videos on the social media. I asked her what Baccademia was, for her:

    “I am the kind of person who likes to help and I am keen on bringing in a new perspective when it comes to learning for the baccalaureate exam, since most of the people think it is just a test for which you only have to swot. But I should like to come up with the idea and the solution that any baccalaureate test could be passed with flying colours only though understanding, through jokes and in a much funnier way, rather than resorting to pricey materials or to very long materials. I have come up with the solution for the Generation Z pupils, who somehow have a different understanding of how to learn for certain subject matters. And I just wanted to bring in a new version, in a bid to motivate pupils, perhaps to read Romanian literature in an off-the-beaten-track way “.

    In terms of feedback, the Baccademia team has told us several pupils confessed that with the help of these materials, they could memorize the entire content of a subject matter that was taught in one class, in one minute

    As for the team, they continue their work! Bianca Ionescu:

    We’re still in short supply of the IT, Chemistry and Physics exercise books, and that’s what we’re working won at the moment. They will be brought out sometime in September, in mid-month, we hope. Our success, to a great extent, is provided by the Tik Tok platform. It is there that we’ve gained our popularity with the clips we created using AI, for instance. We’ve so far gathered 1,000,000 views all told, in our account. “

    We can only wish candidates to be efficient in their learning efforts, now that everything has become easier for them.

  • August 16, 2023 UPDATE

    August 16, 2023 UPDATE


    SECURITY Romanias security has been consolidated and the efforts to strengthen NATO structures on national territory, especially the NATO battle group established in 2022, will carry on, said President Klaus Iohannis, who attended the Navy Day ceremonies in Constanta on Tuesday. In turn, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu promised that the government would earmark the resources required for equipping and modernising the Romanian Naval Forces. Security at the Black Sea ensures the stability of the entire region and turns Romania into an important security provider, the speaker of the Senate, Nicolae Ciucă, also said.



    ECONOMY The EU economy grew 0.5% and the Eurozone economy went up 0.6% in Q2 2023, compared to the corresponding period in 2022, with Ireland and Romania reporting the most significant growth rates, according to preliminary data released on Wednesday by the European Statistics Office (Eurostat). Among the EU member countries for which data are available, the highest growth rates in April-June 2023 are reported in Ireland (2.8%), Romania (2.7%), Cyprus and Portugal (2.3%), while the most important negative rates were in Estonia (-3%), Sweden (-2.4%), Hungary (-2.3%) and Poland (-1.3%). Across the ocean, the US GDP went up 0.6% compared to the previous 3 months and 2.6% against the corresponding quarter last year.



    BACCALAUREATE Nearly 34,000 high school graduates in Romania, sitting the second session of this years Baccalaureate exam, Wednesday had the Romanian language and literature test, with papers graded digitally for the first time. The tests are scanned and uploaded on a platform, where they are assigned for grading to teachers in any part of the country except for the county where the student went to high school. The two tests in students major subjects are scheduled for August 17th and 18th. In order to pass the exam, candidates need an overall grade of at least 6 in their written tests. In the first Baccalaureate session, 75% of the candidates passed the exam.



    TRAFFIC Over 2.2 million Romanians and foreigners crossed Romanias borders during the Assumption of Mary holiday period, up 24% compared to the corresponding period of last year, the Romanian Border Police announced. The most crowded checkpoints were those on the Hungarian and Bulgarian borders, and those in airports. During the same period, border police issued fines totalling over EUR 60,000 and seized assets of over EUR 600,000. More than 100 Romanian nationals were denied exit and 90 foreign nationals were not allowed to enter the country for various reasons.



    UKRAINE The Romanian Defence Ministry strongly condemns the repeated strikes by Russian armed forces targeting critical infrastructure in Ukraine and regions inhabited by civilians in that country. The statement comes after on Wednesday morning the Danube River ports in Izmail and Reni, near the border with Romania, were hit by drone strikes. The war of aggression started by Russia against Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law, says the Defence Ministry, also adding that it has enhanced the monitoring of Romanias national territory and its maritime and airspace, jointly with NATO forces, to strengthen defence on the entire eastern flank and to deter possible aggressions against NATO member countries. (AMP)


  • July 5, 2023

    July 5, 2023

    VISIT Today, in the second day of his
    visit to Germany, Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, is going to have
    talks with representatives of the business environment, followed by meetings
    with the Vice-president of the German Parliament, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, and
    with representatives of the main political groups in the Legislature. The head
    of the government in Bucharest will be also having talks with the
    representatives of the defence industry in Germany. On Monday, the first day of
    his visit, Marcel Ciolacu met Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who reiterated his
    country’s all-out support so that Romania may become a Schengen member this
    year. Ciolacu has also met with members of the Romanian communities in Germany,
    whom he briefed upon the projects of the government in Bucharest dedicated to
    the Diaspora, as well as a start-up programme.








    FAIR The first holiday edition of the
    book fair Gaudeamus Radio Romania has today kicked off in Brasov, central
    Romania. The event is part of the Gaudeamus caravan, a nation-wise project that
    has been initiated and carried on by Radio Romania for more than 20 years. The present
    edition’s offer includes, the book fair itself, graphic and photo art, literary
    creation, all brought together into 40 exhibition stands. This edition is
    expected to end on Sunday, July 9th.








    DIICOT 24 suspects have been
    apprehended and two placed under investigation in a case involving the
    mistreatment of vulnerable people in three old-peoples’ homes in Romania. On
    Tuesday, DIICOT prosecutors kicked off over 30 searches in Bucharest and other
    6 counties in southern Romania. Authorities are presently taking care of one
    hundred of these vulnerable people. According to the investigators, the
    aforementioned people had been exploited for more than two years, being
    deprived on proper food, medical treatment and hygiene conditions. Prosecutors
    are now investigating cases of human trafficking, fraud, embezzlement of over
    one million euros as well as inhuman and degraded treatment.




    EDUCATION Romanian president
    Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday promulgated the new Education laws. A former high-school
    teacher, Iohannis, has been promoting a programme known as ‘Educated Romania’
    launched in 2016 and followed by a series of public debates. Solutions have
    been proposed for fighting school violence in the country’s pre-university
    education, to support the disadvantaged categories of students, curb school
    dropout and promote sports. Concerning university education, president Iohannis
    says the new legislative measures are going to bring the Romanian education up
    to international standards. The education laws have been promulgated after
    years of debates and at the end of a critical period in Romania’s education
    system, marked by the recent all-out strike of the teachers. In another
    development, upon the appeals session for the National Assessment exam counting
    towards the candidates’ high-school accession, 76.4% of the students have
    obtained passing results while 73% of the candidates have passed the
    baccalaureate exam.


    (bill)

  • August, 16, 2022

    August, 16, 2022

    MEDAL Romanian swimmer David Popovici won gold in the 200
    meter freestyle race of the European Aquatics Championships in Rome. Popvici,
    17, the world’s en titre champion, ended the race in one minute, 42 seconds and
    97 hundredths, a new world and European record. We recall that Popovici also
    walked away with gold from the 100 and 200 meter freestyle races of the World
    Championships in Budapest. The Romanian swimmer also got the title on Saturday
    night in the 100 meter freestyle race with a new world record of 46 seconds and
    86 hundredths. The Romanian swimmer is also expected to run in the 400 meter
    race on Wednesday.






    BUDGET The government in Bucharest is this week preparing the first budget adjustment
    in 2022, which has been described by the country’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca
    as positive. The Ministries of Finance, Labour and European Projects are to get
    more money and so are the Ministries of Healthcare, Energy, Transport, Justice
    and Agriculture. The Ministries of the Interior, the Environment and Culture have
    seen their funds trimmed as Finance Minister Adrian Caciu has announced that a
    key priority are the measures the Executive has taken in order to boost the economy
    and support the citizens against the backdrop of a soaring inflation rate. Among
    the aforementioned measures there are a support scheme aimed at offsetting
    growing prices in gas and electricity, state subsidies for fuel consumption in
    agriculture as well as credits for farmers. Under the new measures consolidated
    budget deficit is estimated to exceed 16 billion euros, which account for 5.8%
    of the GDP.










    EXAM Roughly 35 thousand students are presently taking the national
    baccalaureate exam in the autumn session, which kicks off today. 22 thousand of
    them have graduated this year and the exam’s final results are to be made
    public on September 3rd. The success rate in the first session of this exam
    held in July stood at 75% being the highest in the past 10 years.










    BORDER Over 1, 500, 000 people, Romanian and foreign
    nationals, have crossed Romania’s borders over August 12th and 15th the General
    Border Police Inspectorate has announced today. The most intense traffic has
    been reported at Romania’s border with Hungary. 13 thousand Ukrainian nationals
    entered Romania on Monday 0.2% more than in the previous day, which brings up to
    2 million the number of refugees that have crossed into Romania since the
    beginning of the conflict in February.










    UKRAINE
    A pro-Russia
    separatist court in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, has charged five foreign
    nationals, including a Swede, a Croat and a Brit, captured fighting alongside
    the Ukrainian forces with being mercenaries. According to Russian media the
    three could face a possible death sentence. We recall that authorities in
    Dontesk in June sentenced to death two British citizens and a Moroccan but
    didn’t apply the sentence yet. According to some reports, Ukrainian artillery
    has struck the headquarters of Russia’s shadowy Wagner paramilitary group of
    mercenaries in eastern Ukraine. The Wagner group was deployed to Crimea and
    Ukraine’s Donbas region in 2014, when Russia-backed forces ousted Ukrainian
    soldiers from areas they later declared to be part of Russia. Wagner units have
    also been deployed to Syria, Libya, Mali and the Central African Republic.
    Western intelligence links the group to Russian oligarch Yevgheny Prigozhin,
    who was dubbed Putin’s chef as his catering business has long helped President
    Putin and his armed forces.










    (bill)

  • July 1, 2022 UPDATE

    July 1, 2022 UPDATE

    SECURITY
    NATO’s deputy secretary general Mircea Geoană said on Friday in Constanţa,
    south-eastern Romania, that the Alliance would continue to support Ukraine and
    that the Black Sea region remains a strategic one in the current military
    context. He took part in the ‘Black Sea Security Summit’, co-chaired by the
    Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu and the US Senator Roger Wicker.
    Geoana also mentioned that Russia is the greatest threat at present, and that
    China’s expansion is a challenge for NATO’s interests, values and security.
    In turn, Bogdan Aurescu highlighted that trans-Atlantic coordination in the
    face of the Russian aggression was flawless, and that it must remain so. If
    president Putin sought to divide us, he failed, the Romanian diplomat pointed
    out. Secretary of state Simona Cojocaru said Romania hailed Russian forces’
    pull-out from the Serpent Island. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Oleksandr
    Polishchuk said Russia is willing to make compromises when it sees the free
    world not only having the means to defeat an aggressor, but also ready to take
    action and fight. The event in Constanta was held in Romania for the first
    time, and is the first multi-lateral dialogue in this format between regional
    allies and partners on the topic of security at the Black Sea.


    BACCALAUREATE 75.2% of the
    students sitting the Baccalaureate have passed the exam, the education minister
    Sorin Cîmpeanu announced in Bucharest, after the appeals stage. This year over
    49,000 appeals were submitted, fewer than last year, the education ministry
    said. Prior to this stage, the pass rate in this summer’s exam was 73.3%, the
    highest in the last 10 years, as minister
    Cîmpeanu explained. Eighth-graders have already found out their results
    in the national evaluation. The grades in this exam are the main criterion for
    high school admission. Over 80% of the participants have passed, again a record for the past 10 years.


    FUEL The authorities
    in Bucharest Friday hailed the decision of the main oil companies operating in
    Romania to lower the price for fuel in their stations by approximately EUR
    0.10, in line with the Government’s emergency order. Energy minister Virgil
    Popescu thanked the companies that volunteered to lower fuel prices. PM Nicolae
    Ciucă also welcomed the decision, calling on fiscal and consumer protection
    agencies to monitor fuel prices. Haulers will benefit from a partial subsidy for
    fuel. The PM says the measure was designed to avoid the shortage and rationing
    of fuel, as reported in other countries. Romania now has one of the lowest fuel
    prices in Europe, with stations across the country selling standard diesel for
    approximately EUR 1.7 and petrol for approximately EUR 1.6.


    EMPLOYMENT Hiring new personnel
    in public institutions and authorities in Romania is suspended until the end
    of the year, under an emergency order issued recently by the government. However,
    employment procedures started before 1 July will be completed. Other exceptions are
    also possible, in cases that are thoroughly justified and in compliance with
    personnel budgets. The government suspended hiring in the public sector in
    order to reduce expenditure and meet the budget deficit target.


    TENNIS Romania is left with only one player in the 3rd round of
    the Wimbledon tournament: Simona Halep
    (30 WTA). Halep will play on Saturday against Magdalena Frech (92 WTA) of
    Poland. On Friday, Irina Begu left the competition after being defeated by
    Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, in 3 sets. (AMP)

  • June 30, 2022 UPDATE

    June 30, 2022 UPDATE

    NATO At the NATO summit, which ended in Madrid on Thursday, US
    president Joe Biden said the US would establish a permanent headquarters for
    the US 5th Army Corps in Poland add a rotational brigade of 3,000
    troops and 2,000 other personnel to be headquartered in Romania. Biden has also
    pledged to enhance rotational deployments in the Baltic region, deploy two
    squadrons of F-35 aircraft to the UK, station additional air defence in Germany
    and Italy and seek to increase the number of destroyers stationed in Spain. At the NATO summit in Madrid, Romanian
    president Klaus Iohannis on Thursday reiterated Romania’s support for the
    Alliance’s cooperation with the European Union. He also pledged Bucharest’s
    active support for the consolidation and deep cooperation with the partners in
    the eastern and southern neighborhoods. Iohannis has underlined that the Black
    Sea region has been a platform for the projection of Russia’s power to the
    Middle East, North Africa and the region of Sahel. President Iohannis has also
    said that Romania supports the adoption as soon as possible of a joint NATO-EU
    statement for the common approach and handling of the Ukrainian crisis. Finland
    and Sweden are to sign the NATO accession protocol on Tuesday, the alliance’s
    Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has announced, according to Reuters. The
    protocol must be ratified by the parliaments of all 30 NATO members. On
    Wednesday, NATO endorsed a new strategic concept, which defines Russia as the
    most significant and direct threat to the allies’ security and stability.










    UKRAINE The Russian army on Thursday announced its withdrawal from the Snake
    Island, a strategic point in the Black Sea, Moscow conquered as early as the
    onset of its invasion in Ukraine. The Russian Defence Ministry has announced
    the move is a gesture of goodwill to facilitate Ukraine’s cereal exports. Kyiv
    had earlier announced the Russian troops were forced to pull out following a
    successful operation mounted by the Ukrainian forces. According to Ukraine’s
    Interior Minister Vadim Denisenko, Russia was trying to turn the island into some
    sort of aircraft-carrier fitted with defence systems, which could enable it to
    control this part of the Black Sea. According to British Prime Minister Boris
    Johnson, Russia’s withdrawal from the Snake Island proves that in the end it
    will prove impossible for Putin to hold down a country that will not accept his
    rule.










    HEAT WAVE
    The National Meteorology Agency issued a code-red alert for extreme heat for
    Thursday and Friday in 6 counties in the west and north-west of the country.
    According to weather experts, highs of 38-39 degrees Celsius will be reported
    in these counties, an absolute record for this time of the year. The rest of
    the country is mostly under orange-code alerts, for temperatures of up to 36-38
    degrees Celsius, and code-yellow alerts, for highs of 33 to 36 degrees Celsius.
    On the other hand, 18 counties in the east and centre of the country are today
    under a code-yellow alert for atmospheric instability.








    EXAMS After the appeals stage, the share of 8th-graders
    who passed the national evaluation this year is 82.4%, the Education Minister Sorin
    Cîmpeanu
    announced. The number of children who got straight As has also increased to 237. Minister Cîmpeanu said last week
    that the number of pass grades among students sitting the national evaluation
    exam reached an absolute record this year compared to the last 10 years,
    namely 82.3%, which means 122,166 children had passed the exam prior to appeals.
    Last year the figure was 5.5% smaller. The grades obtained in the national
    evaluation are the main criterion for high school admission.






    FESTIVAL The Sibiu International Theatre Festival continues in
    central Romania until the 3rd July. This year’s motto is
    Beauty. This 29th edition of the festival brings together artists
    from around the world in theatre, dance, cinema, musical, opera and circus
    performances. Concerts, book shows and exhibitions are also organized as part
    of the festival. Some of the performances taking place in cultural or
    unconventional venues can be watched on the Festival’s official website,
    digital streaming platform www.scena-digitala.ro, and on the event’s official
    Facebook page and YouTube channel.




    (bill)

  • Good results in school exams

    Good results in school exams


    For Romania, a country once known for the excellent performances of its education system, the nearly 33 years since the anti-communist revolution meant a steady decline in the quality of schooling, reflecting in results far from its past glory.



    A long line of attempts to reform a system that has so far proved unable to keep up with the times has brought confusion among children, teachers and parents alike. And the frequent changes operated by successive education ministers have led to exam pass rates that are well below the expectations and goals of decision-makers.



    Education changes with technology, knowledge is more difficult to pass on today than it was 20 years ago, people need much more complex information, and this is Romanias most significant weakness, experts argue.



    But this years results seem to disprove this conclusion and bring a sliver of hope: around three-quarters of the high-school seniors that stood the Baccalaureate exam this summer have passed. The pass rate went up by 5.5%, to the highest level in 10 years. As many as 162 students got straight As in all subjects, most of them in Bucharest.



    Education Minister Sorin Cîmpeanu: “78.3% of this years high-school seniors have passed the exam, and the highest figures were reported in Cluj, 85.1%, in Iaşi 81.7%, Galaţi 81.6% and Brăila 81.3%. Bucharest saw a 77.4% pass rate, which is above the national average, but hardly one of the top rates. The counties with the lowest pass levels were Ilfov, Giurgiu and Călăraşi. In rural communities we have a 69.2% pass rate, as against 82.7% in urban schools.”



    Mr. Cîmpeanu explained that these good results are owing in part to exam subjects being simplified following the pandemic that kept classes online and children at home. He also added that he hoped digital evaluation would be extended across the country next year, after a pilot project ran smoothly this year in Călăraşi.



    In turn, the results in the secondary school graduation exams also improved this year. Minister Sorin Cîmpeanu announced that “the number of pass grades is at an absolute high for the past 10 years.” The exact figure is 82.3%, meaning that over 122,000 8-graders have passed their exam. In 2021, the proportion was only 76.8%. (AMP)


  • Asking for clarification in Romanian

    Asking for clarification in Romanian




    Asking for clarification in
    a foreign language using open questions is a complex function you need to
    master, if you want to refine your command of Romanian. In this lesson you’re being
    presented with the basics of using open-ended questions and asking for
    clarification.




    As usual, we
    begin with a bunch of relevant words and phrases:


    Peste proaspat=fresh
    fish


    Piata de
    peste=fish market


    Miine
    dimineata=tomorrow morning


    A gasi=find


    Certificat de
    garantie=vehicle warranty certificate


    Scump=expensive


    Now let us use
    some of the words in meaningful sentences:


    Crezi ca am sa
    gasesc peste proaspat la piata de peste, daca merg acolo miine dimineata,
    inainte de ora 9?


    Do you think I
    can find fresh fish at the fish market, if I go there tomorrow morning before
    9am?


    Credeti ca
    masina aceasta este inca in garantie ? Mi se pare cam
    scumpa, la 9.000 Euro.


    Do you think
    the vehicle warranty certificate for this car is still valid? It seems a little
    bit expensive, for 9,000 Eur.


    Crezi ca poti
    sa-mi trimiti bibliografia pentru examen pina mine, la ora 1300 ?


    Do you think
    you can send me the bibliography for the exam by tomorrow at 1pm ?




    Thank you ALL for the interest you
    take in Romanian culture, and for being so keen on learning Romanian with us.
    Good Bye! La revedere!



  • Asking for clarification in Romanian

    Asking for clarification in Romanian




    Asking for clarification in
    a foreign language using open questions is a complex function you need to
    master, if you want to refine your command of Romanian. In this lesson you’re being
    presented with the basics of using open-ended questions and asking for
    clarification.




    As usual, we
    begin with a bunch of relevant words and phrases:


    Peste proaspat=fresh
    fish


    Piata de
    peste=fish market


    Miine
    dimineata=tomorrow morning


    A gasi=find


    Certificat de
    garantie=vehicle warranty certificate


    Scump=expensive


    Now let us use
    some of the words in meaningful sentences:


    Crezi ca am sa
    gasesc peste proaspat la piata de peste, daca merg acolo miine dimineata,
    inainte de ora 9?


    Do you think I
    can find fresh fish at the fish market, if I go there tomorrow morning before
    9am?


    Credeti ca
    masina aceasta este inca in garantie ? Mi se pare cam
    scumpa, la 9.000 Euro.


    Do you think
    the vehicle warranty certificate for this car is still valid? It seems a little
    bit expensive, for 9,000 Eur.


    Crezi ca poti
    sa-mi trimiti bibliografia pentru examen pina mine, la ora 1300 ?


    Do you think
    you can send me the bibliography for the exam by tomorrow at 1pm ?




    Thank you ALL for the interest you
    take in Romanian culture, and for being so keen on learning Romanian with us.
    Good Bye! La revedere!



  • New rules for the baccalaureate exam

    New rules for the baccalaureate exam

    For the first time in post-communist Romania, this years baccalaureate exams have begun as early as February with the oral language and computer tests. Until the 22nd of February, around 177,000 young people in their final year at high school or who have already finished high school will be taking an oral language test in the Romanian language or the language of ethnic minorities, a foreign language test and a computer test. These are pass/fail tests, with no marks being awarded.



    The second part of the baccalaureate examination will be held between the 25th and 28th of June and will consist in written tests for which marks will be awarded. This timetable was established, together with parents and students representatives, by the former Social Democrat education minister Liviu Pop, who has in the meantime left the Cabinet. Pop argued that the period before the written tests is a very busy time for pupils and that splitting the examination in two parts would give children a respite until summer.



    Trade unions in the education system warn, however, that changing the exam timetable may lead to strange situations that the law does not cover. For example, some of the students who pass the February exams may be unable to take their summer exams because of poor grades in class. We will have a better picture of the new system after the exams in summer, by comparing things with last years baccalaureate, when the best results in the last 8 years were reported. Almost 73% of the pupils who took the tests passed, which accounts for a 5% increase compared with 2016. Of the 135,000 pupils, only 97 obtained the maximum score. The best results were obtained in Sibiu, in the centre, Bacau and Iasi, in the east, and Cluj, in the west, while the worst came from Ilfov and Giurgiu, in the south.



    Minister Pop said at the time that the good scores were not the result of easier exams than in previous years, but of the fact that pupils worked harder. There were also high schools, especially technical ones, where no pupil passed the baccalaureate exam. The National Liberal Party in opposition said the authorities needed to take urgent measures to support the education system. Having themselves held the education ministry in the past, the Liberals said the baccalaureate exam had in recent years become a mere bureaucratic formality sending young people into unemployment, with no qualifications, no practical skills and no chance of integrating into the labour market.


    (translated by: Cristina Mateescu)