This Year’s Baccalaureate Results, Better than Last Year’s
This years Baccalaureate exam has turned out to be a serious challenge for young high school graduates.
Valentin Țigău, 08.07.2013, 13:18
Over 60% of twelve grads and 30% of graduates of previous years have passed the July session of the Romanian Baccalaureate, as shown by the first preliminary official results made public by the Romanian Education Ministry. Over 187,000 students enrolled in the exam. The Baccalaureate this year was marred by a series of fraud attempts, dismantled by exam supervisors, and in some cases even by police officers.
Prior to the exam, the Education Ministry had warned it would show zero tolerance to any bribe and fraud attempt, also setting up a special toll-free line and a web page where the general public could file a notification in that respect. Multiple fraud cases were reported in high schools across the country, and the authorities have launched full-scale investigations.
The most notorious and headline-grabbing of these cases was a scandal at the “Dimitrie Bolintineanu” high school in Bucharest, where suspicions of fraud surfaced during the written exam. Over 100 students are suspected of having bribed teachers to help them pass the exam. After the scandal made headlines, the headmaster of the high school in question was put on preemptive arrest for 29 days.
The Prosecutor’s Office and the Bucharest Police Force had conflicting reactions to the incident. The Prosecutor’s office initially announced there had been no warrants for taking any student into custody, but merely citations. On the other hand, the police claimed the Prosecutor’s Office had signed and issued such warrants. Two buses were sent to the high school to pick up the students, which triggered quarreling between the authorities and the parents of students suspected of fraud. Prime Minister Victor Ponta has blamed the whole thing on Interior Minister Radu Stroe, demanding an explanation.
Beyond these objectionable incidents however, the results of this year’s Baccalaureate exam are better than last year’s. The success rate this year stands at 55% at national level, as compared to 43% in 2012. Although this may seem surprising and leave room for moderate optimism, the success rate has dropped dramatically in the last two years, mainly as a result of the Education Ministry introducing unprecedented monitoring and control mechanisms during the written exams.
On the other hand, the high success rate in the July 2013 session shows a higher level of preparation and determination among young people in order to pass this important maturity exam.
