Radio România Internațional

Tag: secondary school

  • March 13, 2023 UPDATE

    March 13, 2023 UPDATE

    Education – Almost a quarter of Romanias middle school pupils who should have graduated in 2021 never took the graduation exam. According to a survey published by the National Centre for Policies and Evaluation in Education, the main reasons for this situation are school drop-out, expulsions, migration and an incomplete academic record. In addition, several thousand pupils finished 8th grade but did not register for the national evaluation, while a few thousand registered but did not show up for the test. The authorities are considering measures to address the situation.



    Visit — On the occasion of his official visit to Vilnius, the Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, on Monday had a meeting with the President of the Parliament, Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, in which context he conveyed his appreciation for the very good level of the Romanian-Lithuanian relationship and highlighted the positive dynamics of the bilateral dialogue at all levels. He also appreciated the positive evolution of trade between the two countries. Regarding the unprovoked and unjustified aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the two officials assessed the multiple consequences of the conflict on the security situation in the vicinity of NATOs Eastern Flank. The preparation of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, due in July 2023, was also examined.



    Gambling – The Romanian Senate unanimously adopted a law limiting access to gambling. The document, initiated by the save Romania Union – USR (in opposition), provides for banning the operation of game rooms located less than 300 meters from educational institutions, childrens playgrounds, banking or non-banking institutions, art or health facilities. The Senate is the first Chamber referred to in this case.



    Moldova – The Moldovan authorities said they disbanded a network coordinated from Moscow that sought to destabilize the situation in the Republic of Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population. The network was made up of groups of 5-10 persons who were supposed to create chaos at the protests that took place in the capital Chişinău this weekend. The groups were coordinated by someone from the Russian special services and were given instructions to destabilize public order using persons with dual citizenship, Russian and Moldovan, instructions that came from Moscow. The protests were organized by the political party of the controversial businessman Ilan Şor.



    Schengen – Romania is neither a source of migration, nor a transit country for migration, president Klaus Iohannis again emphasized. He is travelling this week to Bulgaria to discuss the Schengen accession with his counterpart in Sofia. We know how to protect our borders, but this is a European problem and its clear that we would also like to contribute to finding the best solutions, Iohannis also said. Bulgaria is making efforts to secure its borders with Turkey in collaboration with the European authorities and Turkey.



    New Delhi – Romania’s National Robotics Team “AutoVortex” won the first place at the international robotics competition in India and qualified for the World Championship in the USA. At the beginning of the month, the young Romanians also won the First Tech Challenge National Robotics Championship, which took place in Bucharest, and, at the moment, they are the best team in the world. They also broke the world record of points accumulated by a team in such a competition.



    Timişoara – As part of the “Timişoara – European Capital of Culture” program, a concert will be held on Tuesday by the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra (Germany), under the baton of its main conductor, the Romanian Cristian Măcelaru. The event will take place at the Capitol Hall of the Banat Philharmonic. The program includes works by Johannes Brahms and Klaus Lang, a contemporary composer present for the first time on a Romanian stage. The channel Radio Romania Music, the specialized channel of the public radio station, will broadcast this concert live, starting at 7 p.m. local time.



    Hospital – The future Regional Emergency Hospital in Iași (northeastern Romania) will ensure continuous hospitalization with 750 beds, grouped in six medical centers, the Health Minister Alexandru Rafila announced on Monday. He also said that the design of the medical unit would be completed this month. Next the procurement procedure will be launched for the start of the construction works. Separately, there will be an intensive care unit for surgery, third-degree burns, transplant and neonatology medical services. The hospital will also have a specialized outpatient clinic and an emergency department. The total amount of the investment, excluding the VAT, amounts to 2.4 billion lei (approximately half a billion Euros), the completion date being 2027. Alexandru Rafila also said that the deadline for the completion of the design phase of the Cluj Regional Hospital (north-west) is April-May, and for the hospital in Craiova (south), November or December this year. (CM, LS)

  • The Garden in the School Yard

    The Garden in the School Yard

    At the opening of the school year, we went to see the results of a
    project run by children. The Garden in the School Yard won an award at the
    Bucuresti(tu) Gala, in the ecology section, a gala under which the Bucharest
    City Hall rewards people who breathe life into the city, changing things for
    the better. The project started as a game, according to Violeta Dascalu,
    headmistress of Ferdinand I Secondary School in Bucharest:


    The idea came in collaboration with the Romania in Transition
    association, which came to us three years ago to set up a workshop for kids to
    teach them how to tend a garden. We called it Garden in the School Yard. It was
    a complex project, with the participation of architects, designers and
    engineers, which means it incorporates elements of various types. For instance,
    rain water is gathered in a large reservoir, it goes into an overflow, and then
    it gets to the green areas. The soil is enriched with compost, which the kids made
    themselves together with the people from the association.


    Confident that forming skills for sustainable living through green
    gardening is key to smart co-habitation in modern society, the project
    coordinator, Ionut Badica, tried to get the kids to know their environment and
    learn right in their school yard. Here with details is Violeta Dascalu:


    The children have learned about each natural element, from
    apple cores to banana peels, and how they turn into compost. The grass cut in
    the garden was also put into the compost. The children made the sluices that
    drain the water. For the green areas, they made trestles to decorate the
    planted space. Then we brought in the science side, and discussed the
    relationship between water, soil, plants and the air. All the elements are
    brought together for the kids. They also have had a chance to talk to
    international trainers, to tell them what they learned. We have the parents
    coming in on Saturdays. We are very glad that parents support the children, they
    learn organic ways of growing plants, learn that nature is perfect and
    regenerates. This is what we teach the children, and we don’t use any chemical
    fertilizers, the seeds and saplings come from sources that are not genetically
    altered.


    We asked Violeta Dascalu how the children see gardening:


    At first they were curious, we started with planting seeds in
    February. They watered the plants and saw the frail saplings growing, in pots
    picked and labeled by them. They came each day to watch the tiny plants grow.
    Then they built hothouses, where they planted with their own hands tomatoes,
    courgettes, cucumbers, radishes and herbs. Some children wanted to do this at
    home, in their balcony. The parents came to ask what we did, because their
    children wanted to have the same thing at home. The children basically
    reeducate the parents.


    The Garden in the School Yard project started at Ferdinand I Secondary
    School in Bucharest in 2012, and in 2014 it was implemented in a school in the
    city of Bacau. Children and teachers can get to know and protect the
    environment every day, offering solutions to the degradation of the
    environment, to the distancing of people from nature, to the rise in obesity
    and sedentary habits in children.


    And once you create good habits, they have to be practiced. At
    school and in the garden, applied knowledge of nature is now an
    extra-curricular activity, as we were told by Violeta Dascalu:


    Our project is part of a larger project run by another NGO,
    ‘Green Schools’, another example of how you can teach ecology and how children
    can learn about nature practically, not just theoretically, in biology class.
    The project is at a stage when they are implementing an electronic manual,
    accredited by the ministry. We offer this manual optionally this year, it is a
    great textbook. There are more and more initiatives from civil society, which
    are a great resource for us teachers.


    This project offers schools practical means of planning and
    implementing modern environmental education.