When will the school year resume?

Classes will resume next week, but the Ministry will decide on the format on Friday

Daniela Budu, 02.11.2021, 13:50

Interim
Education Minister, Sorin Cîmpeanu, said pupils in Romania will resume classes starting
November 8, after the two-week mini-holiday imposed due to the pandemic.
However, on Friday, jointly with health authorities, the Ministry will decide
whether pupils will return to school physically or if classes will move online.
Also at the end of this week, the Ministry will make other announcements
regarding teaching activities, such as the reduction of the number of final exams
and changes in the grading system. Minister Sorin Cîmpeanu said that a document
will be made public in this respect and gave more details:

Pupils in the
5th, 6th and 7th grades will sit final exams
in math and Romanian. 8th-grade pupils had three finals before, and
now they will have only two. High-school pupils had four finals, with the exception
of technological schools, and by order of the Education Ministry they will only
sit three final exams.

The interim minister
said the exams can be taken starting December 6, and their share in the final grade
will be 25%. All exams will be taken with physical attendance.

Pupils who
won’t be able to sit the exams physically for reasons beyond their control, and
of course here we refer to cases of infection or quarantine, will be able to
take the exams upon their return to school, even in the second semester.

Minister Sorin
Cîmpeanu said that the anti-COVID-19 vaccination rate among pupils has gone up
of late. According to official data, the vaccination rate has exceeded 25% of
the total number of pupils over the age of 12. Right now, 80 thousand pupils
aged 12-15 and some 223 thousand pupils over the age of 16 have taken the jab. Minister
Cîmpeanu called on every county school inspector and individual schooling unit to publish all vaccination-related data on their websites.

All county
school inspectorates have published the vaccination rate at local level, and in
some cases this exceeds 90%. Additionally, each school will publish on its
website the level of vaccination amongst the teaching staff, with the full
observance of personal data legislation. By virtue of example, I’ve also
published the rate of vaccination among the employees of the Education Ministry,
which I must admit is below expectations, 66%.

Minister Sorin
Cîmpeanu also said the forced holiday will be rescheduled in early January. (VP)