Radio România Internațional

Tag: school

  • January 10, 2021 UPDATE

    January 10, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the total number of coronavirus infections in Romania has passed 671,000 and the total death toll has reached over 16,600, after over 3,000 new cases and 62 deaths were reported on Sunday. 1,065 people are currently in intensive care. The largest number of cases, 825, was reported in the capital Bucharest. Since the start of the vaccination programme in Romania on December 27, more than 100,000 people have received the anti-COVID-19 vaccine. Mild and common side effects have been reported in 350 cases, mostly headaches, muscle pain, fever, asthenia or rashes. The next stage in the vaccination campaign, addressing the elderly and chronic patients, is scheduled to start at the end of next week. The Government is to pass an emergency order granting bonuses to the personnel involved in the anti-COVID National Vaccination Programme, the health minister Vlad Voiculescu announced. Family physicians, who are regarded as a vital element in the immunisation campaign, will also be paid.



    FILM colectiv / “Collective, the Romanian documentary by Alexander Nanau covering a journalist investigation into the corruption in Romanian healthcare, won the award for best foreign-language film of the US National Society of Film Critics. The documentary colectiv is Romanias nomination for the 2021 Oscars in the “best international feature film, previously known as best foreign film. This is the first time that Romania submits a documentary in the competition for the Academy Awards.



    BANKS As of Monday, all banks in Romania are to submit to the National Tax Agency (ANAF) all data on the accounts held by private individuals and business, under an emergency order which transposes a European directive. The new legislation is designed to help the authorities fight against money laundering and terrorism financing. An electronic tax registry will become operational, containing banking and payment accounts identified by International Bank Account Number. The Agency will thus be able to monitor money circuits in Romania and to identify money laundering attempts.



    SCHOOLS Romanian students resume online classes on Monday, for the last 3 weeks of the first half of the academic year. A one-week vacation follows, and the second semester, beginning on February 8, might bring Romanias 3 million primary, secondary and high school students back into schools. This is one of the options considered by the authorities, depending on the latest COVID-19 developments. Another option is for only pre-schoolers and primary school students to resume face-to-face classes, while in a third scenario 8th and 12th graders might also get back to school.



    EMPLOYEES 1.25 million people were working in public institutions in Romania in November 2020, over 64% of them in the central public administration. According to the Finance Ministry, nearly 600,000 of these jobs are entirely funded from the state budget. The largest number of jobs is reported in public education (almost 300,000), followed by the Interior Ministry (125,000). Local public administration units had 450,000 employees in November, more than half of them in jobs fully financed from the state budget.



    COMPLAINTS Almost half of the complaints filed in 2020 to the European Consumer Centre in Romania concerned the transport sector. People were unhappy with the services received from air, road, railway and naval transport companies, as well as from car rental companies. Other complaints concerned clothing and footwear, restaurants and hotels, as well as entertainment and cultural activities, the National Consumer Protection Authority says.



    WEATHER A code yellow alert for heavy snowfalls is in place until Monday afternoon in the south and south-west of the country and the capital Bucharest. A layer of 10-20 cm of snow is expected in these areas. Snowfalls, glaze and temperatures of up to 2 degrees Celsius are forecast in Bucharest for the next 4 days. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • Are schools in Romania opening on February 8?

    Are schools in Romania opening on February 8?

    Classes in Romania will remain in online format also in the last three weeks of this semester, after which the situation might change. The education minister, Sorin Câmpeanu, has expressed confidence that schools and kindergartens will reopen on February 8, in one form or another. On Thursday, the minister met with teachers, trade union representatives, parents and student associations to discuss the current issues in the Romanian education system at the beginning of his term in office. Minister Câmpeanu has admitted though that everything depends on the epidemiological situation and has explained that either all schools will be opened or only those from the areas where the contamination rate is low.



    Priority is given to primary education and kindergartens, which are the most difficult to manage online. Top priorities are also the national exams for the 8th and 12th graders. The education minister has underlined that he really wants the simulations for these students to also be held in schools, while taking all the precautions, so as to allow the correct evaluation of students’ online learning outcome. This stage might be followed by a change of the curriculum, depending on the way in which students assimilated the information taught by teachers online. He promised that, by February 15, data would be made public regarding the subject matters for the examination of 8th and 12th graders, as well as data on the way in which the exams will unfold. According to the education minister, the problems of online teaching are structural, not circumstantial, and any country is facing such problems.



    Sorin Câmpeanu has added that the health of teachers and students is important, but recuperating the information lost during the online classes is equally important, given that some students are going to take the National Assessment and Baccalaureate exams. For the time being, the School Inspectorates are expected to provide lists with the number of teachers who want to be vaccinated against Covid-19, some surveys showing that less than half of the teachers intend to be vaccinated. The education trade union representatives have asked to be informed about the vaccination process, but not to be obliged to get the vaccine. In turn, the parents representatives have called for a budget increase for the education domain.



    Minister Câmpeanu has also stated that he wants the setting up of a single integrated national registry of diplomas and study documents, which should include baccalaureate, bachelors, masters and doctor’s degrees. He has underlined that, in this way, it will be easier to verify the authenticity of degrees and diplomas and the scourge of plagiarism in the Romanian education system will be thus eliminated. The students representatives have agreed with this approach and have expressed their wish to also develop a single platform at national level for enrollment and admission to higher education. “Education remains the priority of this government,” the education minister has said. (tr. L. Simion)

  • Having atypical children in Romania


    The beginning of the 2020-2021 school year is by no means a usual one. It is atypical for most children and parents. But for a certain minority of them, the oddness and difficulties of this year only pile up on older, but equally atypical problems. These are the children with special education needs, who, under current legislation, must be integrated in regular education units.



    But the law only exists on paper, and more often than not this integration does not take place, as Anemari-Helen Necșulescu says in a recent book called “The diary of a mother. Urban scenes with children, traffic, parents, homework and others,” released by Cartex publishers. Anemari is the mother of 2 adopted children, one of whom, a boy named Emi, has been diagnosed with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder).



    The book tells the story of how Anemari struggled to get Emi integrated in school, and more. Because, as the author says, “the book is not necessarily intended to solve any problems, but to open up topics for discussion. (…) Not talking about our problems and hiding them under the carpet is a lot more dangerous for our mental health.”



    And the response of the education system to students with special needs has long been one of the topics swept under the carpet in Romania. After eight years of efforts, with Emi now an 8th-grader, Anemari-Helen Necșulescu summarises the types of resistance she has faced in school:



    Anemari-Helen Necșulescu: “There are a lot of forms of resistance. There is blunt opposition, when you are told ‘no’ from the start: ‘can’t do,’ ‘don’t have,’ ‘not possible.’ It so happens that this is precisely what prompts me to act. But there are also forms of disguised opposition, where people go through the motions of observing the law. I had not been aware of this form, which is why a big part of the book focuses on that and on how a parent experiences it. On the one hand, I would like teachers to read it and find the empathy to look at these children not like names in a class book or faces in a classroom, but like human beings with a story. On the other hand, I would like the parents in my situation to understand that it is not easy. Some contact me for advice, and I explain what the legislation says and how they should approach it. And it’s not easy, from writing an application and having it registered with the school to having to come back again and again to find out what to do next, to going systematically up the hierarchy to school inspectors and so on. My message for the parents in my situation is, ‘You are your child’s only hope. I know that our day to day life is already hard as it is, but as their parents, you are their only hope.’ This is how I managed to get for my child the best that can be achieved in Romania today.”



    The experiences of a child with special education needs and the efforts of their parents are told in this book with the accuracy, humour and energy of a mother who knows that, at least at first, she is all alone in this fight.



    Anemari-Helen Necșulescu: “In one chapter I talk about the start of Emi’s first year in elementary school, when we ended up kicked out of the classroom. It was painful, and obviously infuriating. When this happens, you usually want to go to war. And you may be right to feel this way, but it is not the right way to go about solving your problem. You should be able to see the other parents as people who simply lack information, rather than empathy. They love their own children and focus on their needs. So you realise the solution is education. And it is your role to educate these parents because it is the only way for your child to be integrated. There is no system in school to facilitate that, no parent-teacher meetings talking about diversity, special needs, integration. You have to do this, you need to turn these other parents into your allies.”



    And since she was accustomed to living with an atypical child, Anemari-Helen Necșulescu adopted another, a five-year-old girl.



    Anemari-Helen Necșulescu: “We found Rebeka on a list of children “harder to place,” and she was listed as a Roma ethnic, so I think this is why she had not been adopted sooner. When I saw that her ethnicity was disclosed in her file, although this is illegal, I was furious, as I am every time someone tells me that something is ‘impossible’. Rebeka changed my life and helped a lot in my relationship with Emi, and the fact that she is Roma was irrelevant for us. She is very dark-skinned, and this makes people behave very inappropriately, which is another challenge. I’ve seen people stare at us, because she and I look so different. In recent years, there are more and more people who adopt Roma children, and who face this segregation problem—because it is not only the child who experiences it, but the entire family. For instance, it affects Emi as well. When someone shouts ‘you, gipsy’ at Rebeka, Emi may be around, and he doesn’t feel good about it.”



    The story of Emi, Rebeka and their parents is told in “The diary of a mother” alongside the story of all the other challenges entailed by living in the crowded and busy city of Bucharest, all described with humour and empathy by Anemari-Helen Necșulescu, who proves that problems can be overcome if one has the right attitude. (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • School in the time of pandemic

    School in the time of pandemic

    The new school year began in Romania on September 14, under special conditions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, with lots of uncertainties for students, parents and teachers alike. Most educational institutions opened their classrooms, but everybody had to wear a protective mask and keep the distance. In others, the courses are to be held online, after cases of COVID-19 among teachers and students were confirmed in several localities. The authorities say that they are closely monitoring the evolution of the situation in schools and, where appropriate, the necessary measures will be taken to curb the spread of the disease.



    Liberal Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said that, in most schools, the start of the new year took place in good conditions. Children need school, and the interruption of the educational process can affect the understanding of the subjects in the coming years, thinks Ludovic Orban, who expressed his confidence in the teachers’ mission and asked them, as well as parents, to become partners.



    Ludovic Orban: When there are gaps in the educational process, of a month or two, that can affect the understanding of the subject matters in the next years of school, and that is why we have to communicate this message as clearly as possible: that it is extremely important for children to follow the school process, be it in a classroom or online. In fact, I think that, little by little, things tend to return to a more normal atmosphere and there is no longer that tension. However, starting school is a joy for both children and teachers, and maybe for parents as well.



    In turn, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, the Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu, said that the new year started with lots of uncertainties and difficulties for all those involved in the educational process. He also said, however, that teachers, pupils, parents and local authorities would be able to overcome all challenges.



    Marcel Ciolacu: Today is another kind of beginning, on a path of responsibility and courage, at the end of which everyone will be stronger and wiser. I am sure that each of you understands the importance of complying with the rules for health protection and I am equally sure that, together, pupils, parents, teachers and local public authorities will be able to go all the way without major incidents



    Representatives of pupils, parents and trade unionists in education believe that the measures applied in schools are insufficient and those that exist cannot be applied well enough. Dissatisfied with the way the authorities handled the purchase of laptops and tablets for students, the Declic Community and the Pupils’ National Council organized, on the first day of school, a protest in front of the Ministry of Education. They reported that 900,000 pupils did not have access to online education during the state of emergency. In reply, the representatives of the Ministry specified that the institution had done its job and that the National Office for Centralized Procurement was responsible for those purchases. (M. Ignatescu)


  • September 10, 2020

    September 10, 2020

    COVID-19 Another 1,380 coronavirus infection cases were reported in Romania on Thursday, taking the total number up to 99,684, according to the Strategic Communication Group. Since the start of the pandemic, 41,002 patients have recovered. Also, 47 deaths have been reported, which takes the toll so far to 4,065. 459 patients are currently in intensive care. The Romanian health minister, Nelu Tătaru, announced on Thursday that he would propose a new 30-day extension of the state of alert, which was due to end on September 16. He added he had ordered the managers of COVID-19 support hospitals to review the situation and prepare a scenario for non-COVID patients. This can be done by either treating SARS-CoV-2 patients in separate buildings, or by transferring them to other hospitals, if possible, Nelu Tătaru explained.



    SCHOOLS Today is the deadline for the authorities to decide and announce how classes are to be held in each school in Romania in the new academic year. School boards will present relevant scenarios to local emergency committees, public health directorates and school inspectorates. According to the National Public Health Inspectorate, over 2,700 localities have so far reported relatively low coronavirus infection figures—under 1 case in 1,000 people, meaning that they are in the so-called “green zone where all students may attend face-to-face classes. The “yellow zone comprises around 400 towns and villages, where pre-schoolers, elementary school and senior students are supposed to attend face-to-face classes and the others are included in blended, online and face-to-face programmes. Finally, over 40 localities are in the “red zone, with students exclusively attending online classes. Bucharest is in the yellow zone. In a press conference held last night, president Klaus Iohannis once again encouraged parents to send their children to school. He explained that if hygiene rules are observed, the problems can be overcome.



    GUIDE The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu announced, on the last day of the Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomats, that a crisis response and management guide has been completed. The document will be sent to all Romanian diplomatic offices. “This guide showcases what we have learnt these past months, with the substantial consular activity conducted in safeguarding the rights and interests of Romanian citizens, Aurescu said. He emphasised that 12,500 Romanian citizens were repatriated since the start of the pandemic until July, when flights were resumed to most European countries. The foreign ministry also helped in the repatriation of over 1,100 foreign nationals, through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.



    INFLATION In Romania, the year-on-year inflation rate dropped from 2.8% in July to 2.7% in August, although the prices of foods, non-foods and services went up, according to data released on Thursday by the National Statistics Institute. The annual inflation rates forecast for the end of this year and for 2021 are 2.7% and 2.5% respectively, according to the Inflation Report made public by the National Bank. According to Eurostat data, in July Romania had one of the highest inflation rates in the EU, alongside Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.



    BREXIT An emergency meeting takes place in London today between the EU and the UK regarding Britains bill overriding some provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement, especially related to Northern Ireland. On Wednesday the British government made public this bill which proposes changes to the Brexit deal, which further complicates the already difficult negotiations between the EU and Britain. The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said there would be no trade agreement between the UK and the USA if London jeopardises the Northern Ireland peace process. In order to protect free movement of goods in Ireland, the Brexit agreement stipulates that Northern Ireland will comply with elements of the EU customs code.



    TENNIS The Romanian tennis player Patricia Ţig today takes on Japans Misaki Doi, seeded 8th, in the eighth-finals of the WTA tournament in Istanbul. In the doubles, Romanian Andreea Mitu and Belarusian Lidia Morozova, winners of the Prague tournament this weekend, were defeated by top seeds Alexa Guarachi (Chile) / Desirae Krawczyk (USA).


    (translated by: A.M. Popescu)

  • School begins next week

    School begins next week

    In spring, the exceptional situation caused by the pandemic made the Romanian authorities switch to online classes both for schools and high schools, and universities. It was an emergency measure, with its inherent flaws, but which allowed the continuation of classes though. Conditioned by the changing epidemiological situation, the Romanian authorities have, for months on end, looked into possible scenarios for the resumption of classes in September and have eventually come up with three color-coded scenarios: red, yellow and green.



    The green scenario is the most optimistic version in which less than one person per one thousand inhabitants is identified with Covid-19 in the past 14 days and thus children can go to school. The yellow scenario, involving a medium risk, means that one up to three persons per one thousand inhabitants are confirmed with the new coronavirus. In this scenario, priority is given to pre-school children, to primary school kids as well as to 8th and 12th graders who will go to school. The remaining classes will be held on line, but pupils will also go to school by rotation. The red scenario is an emergency one, with more than three people contaminated per one thousand inhabitants in a 14-day period.



    In the red scenario, schools will be closed and classes will be held online. Education minister Monica Anisie explains: “On September 7, the public health directorates will analyze the epidemiological situation, will submit their conclusions to the education institutions and, depending on the epidemiological situation, and also on the specific situation of each school, the schools’ managing boards will forward their proposals to the School Inspectorate.”



    The PM Ludovic Orban has given assurances that school will start on September 14, underlining that the right to education is a fundamental right and that the authorities are taking all possible measures to reduce the epidemiological risk. The PM also mentioned the possibility of holding classes online by the end of September.



    PM Ludovic Orban also replied to the leader of the main opposition party, PSD, Marcel Ciolacu: “Nobody has ever stated that they want to postpone the beginning of school. Therefore, school begins on September 14 and local elections are held on September 27. The Social Democrats’ idea is ridiculous…How could one postpone the elections? The mandate of local authorities has already been extended and the elections have been postponed once. September 27 has been agreed upon by all political leaders and the date of the elections was not set by government order but established by law, in Parliament.”



    The statement follows an idea recently mentioned by PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu according to which the Social Democrats will initiate discussions in Parliament on postponing the local elections if school does not begin on September 14. (tr. L. Simion)

  • The government is bracing up for a new school year

    The government is bracing up for a new school year

    The government in Bucharest has earmarked 175
    million Euros out of EU funds for preparing the new school year due to commence
    on September 14th. The money is to be used by the local authorities
    for the purchase of tablets, masks and sanitary cabins.




    More than half of the money, 100 million Euros
    will be used on computer tablets and other electronic devices aimed at assisting
    the online education of roughly 500 thousand students, Ionel Danca, head of the
    Prime Minister’s chancellery has said. The government will invest 50 million
    euros in the purchase of masks and disinfectants for schools and 25 million
    others in mobile sanitary cabins.




    The experience of last semester, when the risk
    of transmitting the novel coronavirus in schools made the authorities to
    suspend classes has prompted the government to also take into consideration a
    worst-case scenario, with three positive persons per one thousand inhabitants
    in a locality in the past 14 days. A situation like this would prompt the
    authorities to close down the school in that locality and hold online courses.




    In early August, when the number of daily
    infections didn’t go under 1,000, the aforementioned situation was reported
    only in 50 localities. Several hundred other localities became part of the
    medium-risk category with between one and three people infected per thousand and
    in this case, preschoolers, pupils in their first school years and students in
    their last who need to take exams, will become a special priority. The others
    will get online courses and are going to school in rotation. These scenarios
    are to be updated constantly in keeping with the local epidemiological
    situation.




    Upon proposals from schools and the School Inspectorate, the
    Committee for Emergency Situations is going to decide whether students will
    stay at home or go to school. Here is Romania’s Health Minister Nelu Tataru
    with more on this.




    Nelu Tataru: We’ve
    allowed the freedom, so to say, to local authorities, county school
    inspectorates and public health directions to adjust the scenarios and the
    regulations we imposed to every school. In the localities where children can
    safely go to school, we believe it’s OK for them to go, with the observation of
    certain prevention measures of course, but where there is the risk of
    infection, the other two scenarios are to be applied. School has to begin
    because we have children who must go to school. We’ve already had half a year
    when children had to stay at home and I believe they need to socialize. The
    teacher-student relation is also something very important.




    In a most-positive scenario, with less than one person infected
    per thousand in the past 14 days, the students’ presence in schools will be
    mandatory not optional, as Education Minister Monica Anisie explains.


    (translated by bill)





  • Three scenarios for the new school year

    Three scenarios for the new school year

    The school year is going to start on September 14 with classes being held according to three scenarios that will be implemented in each region, depending on the number of new coronavirus infections per one thousand inhabitants. After consultations with the Liberal government, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis announced on Wednesday that the decision regarding a possible total or partial lockdown on schools would be made by the local authorities, but most children will go to school in person.



    Klaus Iohannis: “The green scenario means a very small number of contaminations in that respective locality or no contaminations at all, while the red scenario means more than three people on average contaminated daily in the past days, which entails an alert scenario when children don’t go to school but study online. The yellow scenario is between the green and red ones. It means that kindergartens and primary schools will operate, the 8th and 12th graders who are preparing for an examination will go to school and for the rest, decisions will be made by each school. Part of the children will go to school and the others will study online, so as to ensure social distancing for those who go to school daily.”



    The education minister Monica Anisie also said that pupils will be obliged to wear masks during classes, and if the situation requires it, classes will be held online. The opposition Social Democrats have hailed the decision on the start of the school year in September but warn that children and teachers have not yet received the tablets and computers promised by the government to ensure online classes. The spokesman for the Social Democratic Party Lucian Romascanu says that the authorities have failed to properly manage the health crisis and urges them to observe their promises:



    Lucian Romascanu: “The lack of instruments for distance learning is a big problem and we hope that the epidemic will not recrudesce, so as to go back to online classes. I do hope that the education ministry will eventually do what it needs to do, given that there is enough money left following the ending of the “Crescent roll and milk” program. The later they act, the bigger the impact on children’s access to education.”



    The National Student Council has equally hailed the decision on the three scenarios for the beginning of the school year. The Save the Children Romania NGO also hailed the decision, warning that almost half of Romania’s children, 47%, have had limited access to education during the isolation measures imposed by the pandemic, as they did not have a tablet or a computer. The education minister says the government has allotted the necessary money for purchasing 250 thousand tablets for children from disadvantaged areas and is currently preparing the purchase of 74 thousand laptops for more than 1,100 high schools. (L. Simion)

  • 2 June 2020, UPDATE

    2 June 2020, UPDATE

    Coronavirus
    Romania.     Fewer coronavirus cases in Romania, as 19 were reported over the last
    24 hours, the authorities have announced. The number of confirmed cases has
    exceeded 19,500 and the death toll stands at 1,288. 13,500 people have recovered.
    Almost 3,100 Romanian nationals living abroad have been infected, of whom 106 have
    died. In the meantime, the activity in hospitals around Romania is gradually
    coming back to normal. Several hospitals that have so far only treated Covid
    infections are gradually returning to the activities they carried out before
    the pandemic. Restrictions were further eased on Monday, when outdoor cafes and
    bars, as well as beaches reopened. Social distancing remains in effect but
    Romanians are now allowed to travel from one city to another without restrictions.
    Shopping centres, schools, kindergartens and playground areas remain closed,
    while flights to and from some EU and non-EU destinations are still cancelled.




    Coronavirus world.
    Coronavirus cases pass 6.4 million globally and more than 378,000 have died.
    The United States tops 1.8 million cases, while its death toll passes 107,000.
    The World Health Organisation has warned that the pandemic is yet to reach its
    peak in Central and South America. This comes as countries around the world are
    easing restrictions. In Japan, the Imperial Palace gardens have reopened their
    doors to visitors after being closed for two months, but the country is still
    closed to tourists from over 110 countries. In Italy, president Sergio
    Mattarella travelled to the Lombardy region, the first coronavirus hotbed in
    Italy and the area worst hit by the pandemic. On Wednesday, Italy is lifting
    restrictions on travel between its 20 regions following a drop in the number of
    new cases and deaths. On Monday, the Spanish authorities said no new death had
    been reported in the last 24 hours for the first time in three months. They
    urged, however, caution, warning that events attended by a large number of
    people are not permitted.




    School. Final year secondary and high school pupils
    returned to school in Romania on Tuesday after more than two months of online teaching.
    They will be undergoing special classes until the 12th June to
    prepare for their respective final year examinations. Special measures have
    been implemented in schools to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus and pupils
    must wear face masks for the duration of classes, which last two or three hours.
    Final eighth-year secondary school pupils can register for the national
    examination until 5th June, with the exam beginning on 15th
    June. Another exam session has been scheduled for 29th June, for
    those who were unable to take the exam earlier on health grounds. A special
    baccalaureate exam session is also expected to be scheduled for the same
    reasons. Pupils in their final year of high school can register for their
    baccalaureate exam beginning on Wednesday, with the first exam being scheduled for
    22nd June.






    Repatriation.
    The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest said it facilitated the repatriation of 260
    Romanian nationals on Monday, 70 from Turkey and 190 from the UK. Earlier, the
    ministry also helped 620 Romanian citizens stranded in The Netherlands, France
    and Spain return to Romania. The move comes in line with other measures aimed
    at facilitating the return of the Romanian nationals stranded abroad as a
    result of air travel restrictions imposed following the coronavirus outbreak. The
    ministry said the Romanian nationals who have been repatriated were unable to
    prolong their stay in the aforementioned countries for various reasons. The Romanian
    air carrier TAROM has cancelled regular flights to and from European
    destinations such as Italy, Spain, the UK, France, Germany and Belgium until
    mid-July.




    Cancellation.
    Three major music festivals scheduled for this summer, Untold, Neversea and
    Electric Castle, have been cancelled due to the coronavirus restrictions.
    According to organisers, the decision reflects the current uncertainty in the
    event industry, the strict conditions in which people are able to work together
    and a bill banning events attracting more than 1,000 people until 31st
    August this year. The people who have already bought their tickets for these
    events can use them next year or ask for a refund. The 2020 edition of the
    Golden Stag pop music festival has also been cancelled, which was due in Brasov
    between 20th and 23rd August. First held in 1968, this
    has become the biggest international music festival in Romania.




    Transmitter. The short-wave station in Ţigăneşti, which transmits Radio
    Romania International’s broadcasts, is undergoing overhaul works on Wednesday,
    3rd June, between 8 am and 4 pm Romania time, or between 5 am and 1 pm GMT. The
    works will affect the broadcasts in French to Central Africa and the Maghreb,
    in English to Western Europe and Australia, in German to Western Europe, in
    Arabic to the Maghreb and in Chinese to continental China. In this interval,
    you can listen to our broadcasts via the short-wave stations in Galbeni and on
    the Internet, at rrri.ro, via mobile apps on Google Play and App Store, on
    Eutelsat 16A or on landline and mobile phones. (CM)

  • June 2, 2020

    June 2, 2020

    FESTIVALS Three major music festivals scheduled for this
    summer – Untold, Neversea and Electric Castle have been cancelled due to the
    restrictions imposed to prevent the coronavirus pandemic. According to
    organisers, the decision was made against the uncertainty in the showbiz, the
    restrictions imposed on team working and the bill banning events attended by more than 1000
    people until August 31st this year. People who bought tickets for the
    aforementioned events this year can use them next year or may apply for
    refunds.






    COVID 19 Only 119 Covid infections have
    been reported in the past 24 hours in Romania, the authorities have announced.
    The number of confirmed cases has exceeded 19,500 and the country has a death
    toll of 1,279. 13,500 patients have been cured since the beginning of the
    pandemic. 31 hundred Romanian nationals have been reported infected abroad, of
    whom 106 died. In the meantime, the activity in hospitals around Romania is
    gradually coming back to normal. Several medical units exclusively treating
    Covid infections so far are gradually returning to the activities they carried
    out before the pandemic. A new stage of relaxing measures began on Monday, when
    outdoor terraces and beaches reopened. Social distancing remains in effect but
    Romanians are now allowed to travel from one city to another. Malls, schools,
    kindergartens and playgrounds remain close, while flights towards some EU and
    non-EU destinations are still cancelled.










    REPATRIATION The
    Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has announced that jointly with other state
    institutions it facilitated the repatriation of 620 Romanian nationals from
    countries like The Netherlands, France and Spain. The move comes in line with other
    measures aimed at easing the return of the Romanian nationals who have been
    affected by the air transport restrictions imposed by the COVID1-19 pandemic. According
    to the same sources, the Romanian nationals were unable to prolong their stay in
    the aforementioned countries due to various reasons. We recall that local air
    carrier TAROM has cancelled its flights towards Italy, Spain, Britain, France,
    Germany and Belgium until mid-July.










    SCHOOL Eighth and twelfth graders in Romania are today
    coming back to school after more than two months of online lessons. They are
    going to take special lessons for their National Test and for the high-school
    graduation exam. Special measures have been applied in schools to limit the
    spreading of the new coronavirus and students must wear masks during the two or
    three-hours classes. Until June 5th, eighth graders are expected to apply for
    their National Test due ten days later. Another exam session has been scheduled
    for June 29th, for those who have been prevented from attending the first
    session on health grounds. A special baccalaureate exam session is also
    expected to be scheduled for the same reasons. Students will start applying for
    this session tomorrow and the first written exam is due on June 22nd.








    ORDER US president Donald Trump on Monday pledged to
    reestablish order in a country affected by riots. The US official said he would
    deploy army troops to quell anti-police protests if state governors are unable
    to do so. Protests and rioting continued on Monday night by people enraged by
    the death of an African American while being apprehended by the police. Police
    fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the protesters. Demonstrations against
    police brutality and racism in the USA were being held at the end of last week
    in Britain, Germany and Canada. Protests were being held in New Zealand,
    Dublin, Amsterdam and Paris on Monday.




    (translated by bill)

  • 29 May, 2020

    29 May, 2020

    Coronavirus Romania. The coronavirus
    death toll rises to 1,240 in Romania, while confirmed infections near 19,000. Some
    12,800people have recovered. The largest
    number of infections was reported in Suceava county, in the north-east, and in
    Bucharest. President Klaus Iohannis has announced a further easing of
    restrictions, with outdoor bars and cafes to reopen and access to beaches allowed
    as of 1st June. As of this date, outdoor performances and sports
    competitions will also be permitted, international road and rail travel
    services will resume and all restrictions for out-of-town travel will be
    lifted.






    Coronavirus
    world.     Coronavirus cases worldwide pass 5.9 million. Almost 2.9 million people
    have recovered and more than 360,000 have died. In Brazil, which is considered
    the new epicentre of the pandemic, the death toll passes 26,700. In South
    Korea, hundreds of schools are closing again just days after reopening following
    a fresh outbreak of the virus. In the meantime, more and more European states
    are easing restrictions. The French government has announced the reopening of
    bars, cafes and restaurants beginning on 2nd of June. Italy plans to
    allow its citizens to travel freely within the country beginning next Wednesday
    and even to open its borders for the Schengen states and the UK without a
    14-day quarantine on arrivals.








    Schools. Romanian pupils in their
    final secondary and high school years will return to school on 2nd
    June for ten days to prepare for their upcoming national exams. Education
    minister Monica Anisie said, however, that attendance is optional. The
    authorities have decided to go ahead with the established timetable for
    examinations, namely 15th June for secondary school exams and high
    school exams beginning a week later, on the 22nd June. All schools
    were closed in Romania on 11th March because of the coronavirus
    pandemic with teaching being conducted online, and will only reopen in autumn.






    Support. The Romanian government has adopted a series
    of measures to support the employees returning to work after 1st
    June, as well as employers. The state is to cover salary costs for the next
    three months, with employers undertaking to maintain the respective jobs for a
    further six months. The areas that will still be affected after 1st
    June will also be identified, with the furlough scheme to still be supported by
    the state. Around 430,000 employment contracts have been terminated and some
    596,000 suspended because of the health crisis generated by the novel
    coronavirus.

    No-confidence. Simple no-confidence motions will be submitted next week against the Liberal ministers for labour, Violeta Alexandru, and regional development, Ion Stefan, said the Social Democratic Party, the largest opposition party in Romania. The move comes after four similar recent motions passed by Parliament against the finance, agriculture, interior and education ministers, who were criticised for their handling of their respective areas during the coronavirus crisis. The Social Democrats even threaten to submit a no-confidence motion against the Liberal minority government if the latter amends a pensions law providing for a 40% increase in pensions beginning this autumn.






    Renault. The French car maker Renault has unveiled an
    extensive cost-saving plan part of which some 15,000 jobs will be cut
    worldwide, including 4,600 in France. The group also says it will freeze plans
    to expand production capacity in Romania and Morocco. France Presse news agency
    quotes experts as saying that Renault was facing a weakening of its brand in
    Europe and difficulties in its alliance with the Japanese companies Nissan and
    Mitsubishi even before the coronavirus crisis. According to specialists,
    between 2009 and 2019, Renault managed, however, to increase its market share
    in Europe by more than 1% to reach 10.5%, this achievement being linked
    exclusively to the Romanian brand Dacia, which saw its sales double. Dacia was
    taken over by Renault in 1999 and relaunched in 2004 with the Logan car,
    becoming in the following years a significant player on the European car
    market. (CM)

  • The School Year Resumes in Romania Online

    The School Year Resumes in Romania Online


    After
    Easter holidays, schools in Romania resumed their activity online in
    order for students to to continue their classes from homes during the
    coronavirus pandemics, whose outbreak led to the temporary closing of
    schools and other education facilities on March 11th.

    Health
    Minister Nelu Tataru has told a private TV channel that schools could
    be open in late May or early June. We must be very careful with the
    children, Tataru went on to say adding that some protocols were being
    considered for the children’s comeback to schools.





    In
    turn, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban has given assurances that the
    authorities never took into consideration the idea of freezing the
    school year, adding that the government’s objective was to ensure
    all the conditions needed for the pupils and students to complete
    their studies and take their national exams in the context allowed by
    the epidemiological situation.





    However,
    according to the announcement made by the Education Ministry early
    this month, the structure of the school year has not been modified so
    far and is supposed to end on June 12th.
    State secretary with the Education Ministry, Luminiţa Barcari, has
    called on teachers in a message broadcast by the public radio station
    to carry on their efforts and keep children connected to schools and
    school activities.





    Luminiţa
    Barcari:
    We
    must stay at home, be patient and try to work online as much as
    possible. Of course we must space out these activities and not
    exhaust the children, we must take into account their age. Some are
    complaining they are working too much while others say they there is
    too little to study. So we must find the right balance in everything.
    Irrespective of the time courses are resumed, this school year will
    certainly be completed. We have working alternatives for all national
    exams.



    The
    Education Ministry has published the curricula, from which the
    objects of the second semester have been eliminated for those taking
    the baccalaureate or the national evaluation exams. The measure has
    been taken in agreement with representatives of the students, parents
    and teachers and those from the National College of Rectors.


    The
    state secretary with the Education Ministry, Luminita Barcari has
    announced the institution has made available five training tests
    weekly for any object of study in order to help students improve
    their studies during the time when courses were suspended.




    Conceived
    in accordance with the new curricula, these tests have been posted on
    the website of the Education Ministry. Luminita Barcari has also
    mentioned the ‘Tele-school’ programme done in cooperation with
    the public TV channel so that students from the last years may
    benefit from support offered by volunteer teachers to get ready for
    the exams they are supposed to take at the end of this school year. (Translated by: Daniel Bilt)


  • January 13, 2020

    January 13, 2020

    Iran – Romania is closely monitoring the situation in the Gulf after Iran admitted having downed a Ukrainian plane, and this means monitoring the observance of the Vienna Convention which regulates diplomatic relations and the freedom to assemble in public spaces, shows a post on the official Twitter account of the Romanian Foreign Ministry. On Saturday and Sunday Iran saw street protests against the way in which the authorities communicated about the Ukrainian plane downed near Teheran, after initially the Iranian authorities had claimed it had been an accident. Thousands of Iranian protesters called for the resignation of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps confirmed Wednesday that they had hit the Ukrainian plane with 176 people on board, mostly Iranians and Canadians.



    Highway – An important meeting for the future highway linking Sibiu (centre) to Pitesti (south) is scheduled for today at the Transport Ministry in Bucharest. The meeting is meant to provide clarifications in relation to a request by the EC regarding the impact of this major infrastructure project on the environment. Granting European non-reimbursable funds for this project depended on these very clarifications. The meeting is being attended by representatives of the transport, European funds and environment ministries, and of the agencies for protected areas and environment protection. European experts will also participate in the meeting to provide consultancy for preparing infrastructure projects. Of the 5 segments of the highway, a contract for design and construction has been signed for only one segment and works are to star in spring. Two segments are still in the assessment stage, while for the other two segments, actually the most difficult ones given their location in a mountainous area, a tender will be held. At least 11 protected natural sites, located on the route of the highway, need concrete measures for conservation, which Romania has not yet taken, the EC concluded. The total value of the project stands at 1.3 billion Euros of which 85% is to be disbursed by the EC.



    School – Pre-school and school children on Monday started the second semester, one the longest semesters in the Romanian school’s recent history. It is by 5 weeks longer than the first semester. The spring holiday is scheduled for April 4th to 21st. The education minister Monica Anisie has announced that this week she will submit for public debate the methodology for the organization of contests for general inspectors and school managers.



    Handball – Romania’s national men’s handball team defeated, on Sunday evening, the Italian side in Benevento, 29-24, in their last match in the 3rd preliminary group of the 2021 World Championship. The Romanian handballers had already qualified to the 2nd stage of the preliminaries of the 2021 World Championship, after defeating Kosovo on Saturday and Georgia on Sunday. Romania is ranked 1st in the final classification, with 6 points, being followed by Kosovo with 3 points, Georgia with 2 points and Italy 1 point. Only the first ranked team will go ahead to the next stage. However, in order to go as far as next year’s World Championship to be hosted by Egypt, the Romanian handball team needs to pass two playoff rounds playing against two teams that are participating in the European Handball Champions under way these days in Austria, Norway and Sweden. Romania previously participated in a world handball championship in 2011.



    Strasbourg — Strasbourg is hosting today the first meeting of the European Parliament in 2020. Debates will focus on deescalating tensions in Iran and Libya in the context of the latest developments in the Middle East. Also, an important moment of today’s meeting is the presentation of the priorities of the Croatian presidency of the Council of the EU. The MEPs will also tackle such issues as the application and monitoring of the rights of the European citizens in Great Britain, the situation of the judiciary in Hungary and Poland as well as the European Green Deal. Romania has 32 representatives in the EP out of a total of 751 members.



    Deficit — Romania reported the 3rd biggest current account deficit in the EU in the 3rd quarter of 2019. According to data published on Monday by Eurostat, the EU member states with the biggest current account deficit in the assessed period were Great Britain (23.9 billion Euros), France (4.1 billion Euros) and Romania (3.6 billion Euros). In another development, Romania’s national bank announced on Monday that from January to November 2019 the current account of the balance of payments reported a deficit of almost 10 billion Euros, higher by 21% as compared to the one reported in the same period of the previous year. (translation by L. Simion)

  • Combating Bullying in Romania

    Combating Bullying in Romania

    Harassment and aggression among children — or bullying, a term that has entered the Romanian language too — has been for the last few years a topic of interest in the public sphere. The main venues are the press and civil society campaigns debating means of countering the phenomenon. One of the campaigns is called the Cartoon Network Friendship Club, and it runs in collaboration with the NGO called the Childrens Hotline Association, and is already in its fifth edition. The slogan that encourages children to combat harassment is Be friendly, not mean. Gymnast Catalina Ponor, multiple Olympic, European, and world champion, is the spokesperson for this campaign, which she finds very useful:

    “It is a nice message, full of friendship, which teaches us to be better, to not be mean, to help one another, and is based on friendship. Fortunately, I was never a victim. I had coaches and colleagues that have been like family to me. But I was witness to bullying outside the training halls, in the school yard or on the street, and I didnt know how to handle it. But it is not OK to not know, it is good to have the courage to got and tell others what you saw. Also, you have to know how to support the person that is bullied, to help them.”

    The Childrens Hotline Association has been offering for years help to children bullied by children, making available the hotline 116111. The number of calls has been on the rise lately, revealing numerous cases of harassment, changing statistics for the worse. However, even if complaints have multiplied, experts continue to say that the phenomenon is under-reported. Parents are also calling the hotline, reporting bullying for ages as young as kindergarten, which account for 8.76% of cases. For primary school, the percentage was 40.29%, 48% for years 5 to 8, and 2.95% for high school. Here is Catalina Surcel, coordinator of the Childrens Hotline Association:

    “Many of the parents that contacted us in such situations had children in primary school. As for the gender of the victims, parents reported to the Childrens Hotline Association bullying of boys making up 70% of cases, for ages 3 to 10. Parents contact our association mainly to seek legal redress. Almost 65% of them called us for that purpose. However, lacking specific legislation, some parents asked for advice on tackling the situations individually. This was the purpose in 22.86% of cases, and in 14.85% of cases they requested the intervention of relevant institutions based on internal regulation of schools, where such a thing exists, also covering abuse of children in school. 55.24% of parents had already complained to school authorities or local education inspectorates, but were not satisfied with the response. Lacking a national legal framework, no measures could be taken to provide proper remedy.”

    When talking about solutions, 44% of parents of victims of bullying want the school to take punitive measures against the aggressor, 27% want the bully to be expelled, and 29% would consider transferring their own child to another school. A proposed amendment to the Law of Education to cover measures combating bullying has passed Parliament already, and awaits presidential endorsement. Catalina Surcel told us that the recommendations made by the Childrens Hotline Association have been included in this proposal, which have been discussed with parents and kids:

    “They include the requirement for schools to develop procedures of identifying bullying, placing school counselors in education units across the country, with a duty to address harassment, introducing the issue of bullying into the curriculum, as well as putting this issue into civic education textbooks. Audio and video monitoring in schools should be extended to kindergartens too. Also, teachers should be trained to handle such challenges too. The initiative that is about to be endorsed by the president includes these recommendations. We need parents to be involved as well, through an effective school-family collaboration.”

    We should also take into account what children want. They want to be listened to and understood, first and foremost. What they dont want is for their problems to be solved by others, Catalina Surcel told us:

    “Children dont want parents to give in to their first impulse, that of meting out justice on account of their children, by going to school themselves to solve the problem on their own. Children want to decide together with their parents what the next steps are and what is to be done.”

    These are even more reasons for bullying to be addressed through institutional regulations, and not be left to individuals to handle.

  • September 9, 2019

    September 9, 2019

    SCHOOL Nearly 3 million school and kindergarten children in Romania have today started the 2019-2020 school year. According to a news release issued by the National Education Ministry, over 215,000 educators will be teaching this year, during 35 weeks structured into 2 semesters. Attending the official opening in Bucharest, President Klaus Iohannis spoke about the failure of public education policies. In turn, PM Viorica Dăncilă, said in Hunedoara, in the south-west of the country, that education is vital to overcoming poverty.




    GOVERNMENT The Government of Romania convenes today to discuss a number of draft resolutions. One of them concerns the minimum amount of performance, merit, education and social scholarships to be granted in public undergraduate schools during the new academic year. The agenda of the Cabinet also includes an assessment of the technical and economic performance indicators for the investment in the Cluj Napoca Regional Emergency Hospital, a project benefiting from EU funding, as well as a memorandum on the Government debt management strategy for the coming 3 years.




    FESTIVAL The George Enescu International Festival continues today in Bucharest. The American soprano Laura Aikin will perform George Enescus Seven Songs on lyrics by Clément Marot, by George Enescu, together with Dresden Staatskapelle. The capital city will also host a concert entitled From Classical to Jazz, with first performances inspired by George Enescus Rhapsody no I and II. Singer Teodora Enache will be joined by Călin Grigoriu on guitar, Joca Perpignan (Israel) on percussion and Răzvan Suma on the cello. The central theme of this years edition is “The world in harmony, and the artistic director is Vladimir Jurowski. Until September 22, Bucharest and 10 other cities in Romania, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and the Rep. of Moldova, will host performances associated to the Festival. Radio Romania has been a co-producer of the event ever since its first edition, in 1958.




    NAVY King Ferdinand Frigate, the military vessel with the biggest number of first performances in the post-communist history of the Romanian Naval Forces, celebrates today 15 years of service within the Romanian navy. During this time, the vessel sailed thousands of miles in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean and 8 seas, and took part in hundreds of missions and exercises. It is the Romanian ship that took part in the first NATO combat mission since WW2, off the Libyan coast in 2011, and in combat missions against piracy in the Indian Ocean in 2012. In October the frigate takes part in NATOs multinational exercise Sea Guardian.




    FOOTBALL Romanias national team Sunday defeated Malta, 1-0, in Group F of the European Football Championship preliminaries. In the same group, Sweden and Norway drew 1-1, while Spain defeated the Faroe Islands, 4-0. Spain tops the group with 18 points, followed by Sweden with 11, Romania – 10, Norway – 9, Malta – 3 and Faroe Islands with no points. Romanias next matches are scheduled on October 12 against the Faroe Islands away from home, and on October 15 at home against Norway. The top 2 teams in the group will move forward to the final tournament. The draw for Euro 2020 will take place in Bucharest on November 30. Romania will also host 4 matches in the final tournament, 3 in the group stage and one in the eighth-finals.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)