Protests staged by teachers and students

Teachers and students staged a protest calling for the repeal of austerity measures targeting education that were adopted last year.

Ştefan Stoica, 26.02.2026, 13:50

If Tuesday saw trade unions from the Ministry of the Interior take to the streets, Wednesday was the turn of teaching staff to voice their discontent in public. Teachers were among the first to be hit by the fiscal and budgetary measures adopted by the government in a bid to reduce the excessive budget deficit.

The protest took place near the Presidential Palace, which had promised to hold talks with education union representatives on the sector’s problems. In an open letter addressed to President Nicuşor Dan, the three education unions called on him to initiate a reform project for the education system, bringing together experts from universities, research institutes and academies, who, alongside relevant professional bodies and key private-sector stakeholders, would seek “successful solutions” to the challenges facing education.

Union leaders are urging the president to raise with the governing coalition a series of demands, including the repeal of what they describe as anti-education measures introduced last year, such as increasing the number of pupils per class, raising teachers’ compulsory teaching hours and cutting hourly pay rates.

Teaching staff are also calling for higher funding for education and research, formal recognition of the importance of their work through fair positioning in the draft of the new public-sector pay law, and the retention of the doctoral title allowance at its 2025 level.

Their list of demands also includes the immediate launch of national research funding competitions from domestic sources, the full reinstatement of student scholarships, the unblocking of university reserves so they can be used for implementing European projects and institutional development, the lifting of the recruitment freeze, and the integration of high-performing young professionals into universities and research.

According to the National Trade Union Federation “Alma Mater”, the Free Trade Union Federation in Education and the Education Trade Union Federation “Spiru Haret”, the current governing coalition is endangering the education and scientific research sectors by promoting and adopting what they describe as unjust and ill-judged financial and accounting measures, taken, in their view, without economic impact assessments and without public consultation or consultation with the relevant authorities.

The unions stress that education is officially recognised as part of national security. Chronic underfunding is not merely a budgetary issue, they argue, but a vulnerability that threatens the security of the Romanian state.

The leaders of the three unions maintain that Romania’s education and research systems require serious, deep and coherent transformation in order to improve results and become competitive internationally.

Students also joined the protest in Bucharest. They say they are disappointed by measures adopted over the past year, including cuts to scholarships and transport allowances.