Students support the introduction of declarations of interest for teachers

Students believe that teachers should be more transparent, especially regarding private tutoring. The National Council of Students has announced its support for the introduction of declarations of interest for teaching staff to "increase overall transparency" in the education sector. The Ministry of Education has released a draft order for consultation, outlining the procedure for teachers to complete declarations of interest. In the declaration attached to this draft, teachers will be required to disclose both the number of students for whom they provide private tutoring and the school and class from which these students come. The National Council of Students states, "The phenomenon of private tutoring is widespread in Romania and has become normalized in all its forms, firmly entrenched in the education system. The main reason students resort to private tutoring is the lack of in-depth teaching in the classroom or the failure to ensure that all students in the class understand the lesson. (...) The National Council of Students supports the introduction of declarations to increase transparency in the education sector. However, the simultaneous inclusion of disciplinary sanctions for teachers providing private tutoring to their own students and the issue of double admission to high schools in the new education law suggests that the root of the problem is being treated with superficiality."

According to the National Council of Students, the introduction of declarations represents "a step forward" in transparency in education and provides an "important incentive to reduce the toxicity" associated with the normalization of private tutoring to cope with classroom material: "The culture of private tutoring is often carried out unofficially as an indirect response to the underfunding of the education system, which has two major consequences: a less quality educational process and teachers forced to engage in these paid preparations privately. Therefore, these declarations are welcome in the context of increased transparency and the reduction of favoritism that could arise when teachers provide private tutoring to their own students." The President of the National Council of Students, Miruna Croitoru, stated, "These declarations are certainly a step towards an ideal educational system that is fair and transparent. However, they are not enough to solve the problem at its root. They may address cases where students receiving private tutoring from their own teachers are favored, but they will not eliminate this toxic practice in the education system. We are pleased that steps are being taken in this direction, and we can talk about a higher level of fairness, but we hope that this is not the end of it."

Representatives of the National Council of Students believe it is important for each class to receive training from teachers that is structured strictly according to the class's level and preferences. This could be achieved through an alternative to the way private tutoring works, such as promoting extracurricular classes held pro bono by teachers from the same class or promoting institutions that aim to provide free tutoring to students.