While all educational facilities in Romania are closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federation of Free Unions in Education is ensuring that the current school year can be concluded under the best possible educational and health conditions and the return to school in September can be carried out in complete safety for teaching staff and students.
In Romania, nurseries, schools and universities will not open again in the 2019-2020 school year, except for the final years of primary and secondary school. The announcement was made on 27 April by the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
The students’ placement in schools and their final evaluations will be determined based on their activity until 11 March, so the current school year will not be “frozen”, stated Adrian Voica, vice-chairman of the Fédération des Syndicats Libres de l'Enseignement(FSLE) and member of the board of the Comité syndical francophone de l’Éducation et de la Formation(CSFEF), an organisation bringing together all French-speaking affiliates of Education International.
He stressed that students in their final year of primary and secondary education will return to school between 2 and 12 June to prepare for their national examinations.
Although these will be organised as initially planned – from 15 to 18 June for the national standard tests and 9 to 24 June for the baccalaureate, they will take place following strict social distancing rules. These include: a maximum of ten pupils in a classroom; they will stay in the room for between two and three hours; they will remain apart from one another; the temperature of everyone – students and teachers – coming into the school will be measured; entrances and exits will be separated; and the premises will be disinfected.
The 2019-2020 school year in Romania will therefore end on 12 June and distance learning methods will continue to be used until then. The schools will reopen for all pupils from 14 September. Voica stressed that the FSLE will ensure that, between now and September, new protection procedures are implemented and stocks of materials (masks, visors, gloves) are secured for students, teachers and education support staff.