In the last 30
\nyears Romania’s education system has been faced with a great number of
\nchallenges. Cabinet after Cabinet promised to implement wide-reaching reforms
\nto ensure basic nationwide education. A 2018 report of the Organization for
\nEconomic Cooperation and Development (OECD) under the Programme for
\nInternational Student Assessment (PISA) revealed significant drops in reading,
\nmathematics and sciences across Romania. An even more worrying piece of
\ninformation is that 44% of Romanian pupils have trouble understanding what they’re
\nreading, making for one of the highest rates of functional illiteracy in the
\nEuropean Union. In 2015, Romania had one of the EU’s highest school dropouts,
\n19.5%. Although it did drop to 15.3% in 2019, it is still one of the highest
\nrates compared to the EU average. The hard reality behind these numbers has as
\nmuch to do with the particular difficulties faced by underprivileged
\ncommunities, as with an overall misconception about the education process and
\nthe general learning experience.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
If anything, the
\nCOVID-19 pandemic has revealed some of the deepest-running flaws in Romania’s
\neducation level: severe underfunding, poor access to education in rural and
\nremote areas, the lack of a transparent and centralized system for evaluating
\nteaching staff, in addition to the exodus of Romania’s best-qualified alumni
\nabroad, have over the years put a dent in Romanian education, with the promise
\nof reforms remaining no more than an election slogan. Understaffed, undertrained
\nand underpaid, teachers in underprivileged communities lack the means to
\nprovide even the most basic form of education. NGOs sometimes reach out to the
\nauthorities for support, who bring up budget limitations. Whenever the message
\ndoes come across and finds some echo, state assistance is either not enough or
\ninadequately provided. Marija-Liisa Tehnunen, the rector of Dimitrie Cantemir
\nChristian University of Bucharest and an internationally acclaimed Finnish education
\nexpert, believes that any successful reform in education should start with the
\nelementary system.<\/p>\n