Romanian schools in the post-pandemic period

After over a year of remote teaching and learning, the education system is slowing returning to a state of normalcy

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Daniela Budu, 24.05.2021, 14:00

National exams will be
held with the physical attendance of pupils as planned, irrespective of the epidemiological
evolution, Education Minister Sorin Cîmpeanu, has announced. The Romanian
official told a private television station that two exam sessions will be held,
both for the national exams as well as for the Romanian Baccalaureate. The
national exam session will start on June 22. Pupils who cannot sit the exam will
be able to enroll in the second session two weeks later. The first session of
the Romanian Baccalaureate will start on June 28, with the second one scheduled
in mid-August. Minister Sorin Cîmpeanu expressed optimism over the start of the
2021-2022 school year on September 13 without restrictions. Until then, the
Education Ministry encourages the organization of summer camps and the teaching
of remedial classes. Meanwhile, only 7% of the total number of pupils in
Romania are still attending online classes, after some 100 thousand school and
high-school children returned to full physical attendance in schools last week.
The decision was taken after the infection rate in all counties across Romania
dropped below one per thousand inhabitants. According to official figures, 270 of
the total of 2.7 million school children tested positive for COVID-19 last week.
Over 55,000 school children aged 16-18 have so far got vaccinated against COVID-19.
Sorin Cîmpeanu said one of the benefits of the pandemic was the improvement of
the digital skills of pupils and teachers alike and raising awareness about remote
teaching, wherever it is suitable. However, the benefits did not outweigh the
losses. Sorin Cîmpeanu:

Apart from education losses,
there have been disruptions in terms of social and emotional behavior, anxiety,
things that are currently affecting society right now, both in Romania and elsewhere.
Of course, although very big, these losses can be made up for in the five weeks
of school we have left. We will have to try, and I am confident there are
teachers who know they can recover much of the curricula that has been lost during
these months. But the process will take several stages.

On their end, teachers
represent the biggest social category to have taken the anti-COVID jab.
According to official estimates, some 160 thousand teachers got vaccinated so
far, and the Education Minister said he is planning vaccination caravans in the
coming period, particularly in rural areas, where the immunization rate among
teaching staff is still low. (VP)