Radio România Internațional

Tag: September 14

  • 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)

  • 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)