School begins next week
Procedures have started in Romania one week ahead of the beginning of school, following which the authorities are to decide on the way in which classes will be held.
Corina Cristea, 07.09.2020, 14:00
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)
