The Ministry of Education demands a balance between investments and increasing the quality of education

Minister Ligia Deca participated in the launch event of the OECD report "Reform of pre-university education in Romania: strengthening governance, evaluation and support systems", which contains recommendations regarding the implementation of the reforms adopted last year through the new pre-university education law, according to the strategic vision "Educated Romania". The Minister of Education supports the need for a balance between increasing the quality of education, improving the performance of teaching staff and investments. According to the minister: "Today's event represents the final point of the technical assistance project entitled Strengthening the Governance of Pre-University Education in Romania. It was financed by the European Union through the General Directorate for the Support of Structural Reforms, i.e. through DG REFORM, of the European Commission. I benefited from the expertise and extremely rich perspective of colleagues from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In short, what did we aim for with this project? First of all, we followed the implementation of the final report of the Educated Romania strategic vision project, a project initiated by the President of Romania, Mr. Klaus Iohannis, and, implicitly, concrete help in the implementation of education laws which, in turn, are based on this strategic vision". Deca mentioned that secondary legislation is currently being developed at the Ministry of Education, and this process must take into account several factors: "Currently, we are at the stage where, at the level of the Ministry of Education, secondary legislation is being developed. And this process of effective implementation through secondary legislation must take into account a number of factors. First of all, it must take into account the principles and values, the principles and values that society has assumed and the principles and values included in the final report of the Educated Romania project. Secondly, it must take into account the legislative framework promulgated by the Pre-University Education Law number 198/2023 and thirdly, it must take into account the social and economic context, a loaded context, with inherent financial limitations, applicable in obviously to all the states that have gone through the latest crises that we see in our regional space, but also in the global space". Ligia Deca added that the challenges generated by the implementation of the PNRR must also be taken into account: "We must also take into account the challenges generated by the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and also the opportunities to attract European non-reimbursable funds from the exercise financial 2021-2027, which offers us, in addition to a context of opportunity, also a series of challenges regarding the alignment of public policy priorities and the implementation of education laws with funding opportunities. Our option to turn to internationally prestigious providers in terms of expertise in the field of education in order to have technical assistance and recommendations in terms of the implementation of education laws was a strategic one and we wanted to have a higher level of quality in our process of implementing the strategic vision Educated Romania, but also a high level of objectivity. Because this happens when you have people who look from the outside and are not necessarily involved in the day-to-day difficulties of managing the education system, you basically have a high level of objectification". She also stated that she would like the development of secondary legislation to start from these technical reports: "First of all, we wanted the development of secondary legislation to start from these objective technical reports. They include examples of good practice from other states, which could be an inspiration for us in terms of the solutions chosen in the secondary legislation. Also, we want it, the report, to help us in developing the most appropriate evaluation and support mechanisms for educational units, especially in the conditions of the future reorganization of the pre-university education system at the county level. I reiterate on this occasion, once again, the firm commitment of the Ministry of Education, as well as the Government of Romania, regarding the increase in the attractiveness of the teaching profession, in addition to the historic salary increases of last year and this year, which amount to over 50% on average, we need a balance between increasing the quality of education, improving the performance of teaching staff and investments. Because, in the end, everything we do in the system is so that every child can reach their potential. And that must be translated, regardless of the instrument, into a visible result at the level of each student". Ligia Deca claimed that Romania is on a trajectory towards a quality pre-university education.