Education in Romania


Education in Romania is based on a free-tuition, egalitarian system. Access to free education is guaranteed by Article 32 in the Constitution of Romania. Education is regulated and enforced by the Ministry of National Education. Each step has its own form of organization and is subject to different laws and directives.
Kindergarten is optional under the age of five. Compulsory schooling usually starts at age 4, with the second year of kindergarten, which is mandatory in order to enter primary school. Schooling is compulsory until the twelfth grade. The school educational cycle ends in the twelfth grade, when students graduate the baccalaureate. Higher education is aligned onto the European Higher Education Area. In addition to the formal system of education, to which was recently added the equivalent private system, there is also a system of tutoring, semi-legal and informal.
Romania ranks 6th in the all-time medal count at the International Mathematical Olympiad with 316 total medals, dating back to 1959. Ciprian Manolescu managed to write a perfect paper for gold medal more times than anybody else in the history of the competition, doing it all three times he participated in the IMO. Romania has achieved the highest team score in the competition, after China and Russia, and right after the United States and Hungary. Romania also ranks 6th in the all-time medal count at the International Olympiad in Informatics with 107 total medals, dating back to 1989.
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Romania is fulfilling only 65.1% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education based on the country's level of income. HRMI breaks down the right to education by looking at the rights to both primary education and secondary education. While taking into consideration Romania's income level, the nation is achieving 48.5% of what should be possible based on its resources for primary education and 81.6% for secondary education.

Overview

Education in Romania is compulsory for 15 years. With the exception of kindergarten and tertiary education, the private sector has a very low presence in the Romanian education system. Education became compulsory in Romania in the 19th century, in 1864, under ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza, when four years of primary school became free and compulsory for all children, regardless of social class and sex. Despite this, the law was not enforced, and mass illiteracy persisted well into the 20th century: in the 1930s, 43% of adults were illiterate. The Romanian literacy campaigns started in 1948 largely eradicated illiteracy in the 1950s.
The education system of Romania resembles the French education system. During the communist era, it was influenced by the Soviet education system, and it included political propaganda, as well as hours of compulsory physical work by school children.
As of April 2013, there were about 7,200 opened schools in Romania, a sharp drop from nearly 30,000 units in 1996. This is mainly because many schools were brought together in order to form bigger schools and eliminate paperwork. In the same year, 3.2 million students and preschoolers were enrolled in the educational system, 500,000 more than in 2012.

Compulsory education

Throughout the 20th century, compulsory education has oscillated between 4 years, 7 years, again 4 years, 7 years, 8 years, 10 years, and again 8 years. In the 21st century, it was raised to 10 years, then to 11 years, and then to 14 years. When the communists came into power in 1947, compulsory education was 7 years, but this was not enforced. Originally, the communist regime lowered compulsory education to 4 years, but with a strong enforcement. Next they increased it gradually to 7, 8 and ultimately 10 years. After the 1989 revolution, compulsory education was lowered again to 8 years. The new government cited as reasons the poor quality of education, high strain on the state budget, and inflation of diplomas. In 2003, compulsory education was raised again to 10 years, through Law nr. 268/2003, modifying Article 6 of Law nr. 84/1995.
During the 1990–2003 period, there was very little concern for education in Romania, and the generation who studied in this period is quite poorly trained, with illiteracy being higher than the previous generation, especially among the Roma population in rural areas. A new law come into force in 2011. This law came into force after years of political debate regarding not only the number of years in compulsory education, but also how they should be structured. The original form of the law, which would have moved the 9th grade to middle school, was never implemented.
With the adding of the preparatory school year as part of compulsory primary education in 2012, compulsory education consisted of 5 years of primary school, 4 of middle school/gymnasium and 2 of high school/vocation school. There were 2 more optional high school years. In 2020, the last year of kindergarten, as well as the last two years of high school were added to compulsory education, bringing compulsory education to a total of 14 years. The 2011 law
was replaced by a new law in 2023, which added one more year of compulsory education, namely the middle form of kindergarten.

Kindergarten

Kindergartens offer preschool education for children and typically last for 3 forms – "small group" for children aged 3–4, "middle group", for children aged 4–5, and "big group" for children aged 5–6, with this last form becoming compulsory in 2020, and the middle form becoming compulsory in 2023.
The "preparatory school year" is for children aged 6–7, and since it became compulsory in 2012, it usually takes place at school. The preparatory school year has been a requirement in order to enter the first grade since 2012, being part of the primary education stage, according to Article 23 of the Education law no 1/2011 and currently according to Article 31 of the Law 198/2023.
During the transition period after the law of 2012 was enacted, transfers of teachers occurred in order to fill in the educational needs of this year.
Kindergarten services differ from one kindergarten to another, and from public to private ones, and may include initiation in foreign languages, introduction in computer studies, dancing, swimming, etc. All kindergartens provide at least one meal or one snack, some having their own kitchens and their own cooks, others opting for dedicated catering services. Many kindergartens provide children with transportation to and from kindergarten. Groups typically have 1–2 teachers and 10–15 children.
Most public kindergartens in urban areas offer parents three types of programs, in order to better suit the parents' schedules – a short schedule, a medium schedule and a long schedule. In rural areas, most kindergartens only have a short schedule. Rural kindergartens also suffer from underfunding and neglect.
The private sector has a very large role in providing kindergarten and day care services, having a large proportion in the market share for preschool education. Typical tuition fees for private kindergarten range between 400 and 1,600 lei monthly, depending on the town/city where the institution is located and on the services offered, whereas for public kindergarten there is no tuition fee. The private sector is quite expensive, catering to upper and upper-middle-class families.
The relative number of available places in kindergartens is small, many having waiting lists or requiring admission and formalities to be done at least six months in advance. The lack of available places is especially obvious in state-run kindergartens, that charge no tuition fees, especially given the relatively high tuition fees of private venues. Local councils, especially in larger cities, where both parents typically work, seeing an increase in demand, have begun investing in expanding existing kindergartens, building new ones or offering stipends for private kindergartens as to cover part of the tuition fees.

Elementary school

includes primary school and then four more grades. Most elementary schools are public; the Ministry of Education's statistics show less than 2% of elementary school students attend private school. Unless parents choose a school earlier, the future student is automatically enrolled in the school nearest to his or her residence. Some schools that have a good reputation are flooded with demands from parents even two or three years in advance. A negative consequence of this is that in many schools classes are held in two shifts lasting from as early as 7 a.m. to as late as 8 p.m. Education is free in public schools, but not entirely.
School starts in the beginning of September and ends in the middle or end of June the following year. It is divided into five periods called modules, each followed by a holiday:
  • Module 1, early September to late October.
  • Fall holiday, late October to early November.
  • Module 2, early November to mid December.
  • Winter holiday, mid December to early January.
  • Module 3, early January to February.
  • Another winter holiday, one week sometime in February; depends on county.
  • Module 4, February to April or May.
  • Easter holiday, one to two weeks around Easter.
  • Module 5, Late April or early May to mid June.
  • Summer holiday, mid June to early September.
Additionally, each school decides when to organise the programmes Săptămâna altfel and Săptămâna Verde.
A class can have up to about 30 students, and there can be as few as one class per grade or as many as twenty classes per grade. Usually, each group has its own classroom. Each group has its own designation, usually the grade followed by a letter of the alphabet. Primary schools commonly give them names, usually animals.

Grading conventions

For the first four years a system similar to E-S-N-U is used, known as calificative. These are Foarte bine – Excellent, Bine – Good, Satisfăcător/Suficient – Satisfactory, actually meaning passing, Nesatisfăcător/Insuficient – Failed. Students who get an N/I must take an exam in the summer with a special assembly of teachers, and if the situation is not improved, the student will repeat the whole year. The "qualifiers" are given throughout the year, in a system of year-long assessment, on tests, schoolwork, homework or projects. The average for each subject is decided by the teacher choosing the two most frequent qualifiers and choosing the one that better reflects the progress of the student or the results of a final evaluation.
For grades fifth to twelfth, a 1 to 10 grading system is used with 10 being the best, 1 being the worst and 5 being the minimum passing grade. The system of continuous assessment is also used, with individual marks for each test, oral examination, project, homework or classwork being entered in the register . There must be at least as many marks for a subject as the number of weekly classes for that subject plus three. At the end of the school year, an average is computed for each subject using the arithmetical average of all marks.
The last step is adding all the yearly averages per subject and dividing that amount by the total number of subjects. This forms the yearly grade average. This is neither weighted nor rounded.
If the yearly average per subject is below 5 for a maximum of two subjects, then the student must take a special exam at the failed subject in August, in front of a school board. If he fails this exam, he must repeat the entire year. If the yearly average per subject is below 5 for three subjects or more, the student is no longer entitled to the special exam and must repeat the year.