Minister Ligia Deca presented the new education laws

The new education laws, presented yesterday by minister Ligia Deca, propose increasing the quality of education and reducing functional illiteracy.

The proposed changes come against the background of worrying figures that place Romania at the bottom of the European ranking in terms of educational performance.

The competent ministry has not given up on the controversial proposal to offer high schools where there is a lot of competition the opportunity to organize their own entrance exam.

Separate admission to high school can be organized for a maximum of 60% of available spots, according to the draft Law on Pre-University Education. The first generation that would take this entrance exam is the one that will enter the 5th grade in the 2023-2024 school year.

"The National Assessment will have tests for the Romanian language, mathematics and, as the case may be, the mother tongue, so the current format will not change. The new element is represented by the potential high school admission competition. Again, if the high school wants, and there is demonstrated competition in previous years, then 60% of the places can be filled by competition. Practically, the high school announces a year in advance that it will organize a competition, announces which tests it chooses from the options that the Ministry of Education makes available and will be able to organize, at the same time as all the other high schools, this admission competition that will be organized according to profiles", said Ligia Deca, the Minister of Education.

As for the Baccalaureate, there is something more than the current formula. It is about a so-called "complementary" test of basic skills, which for the "math and sciences track" profile will be in mathematics or natural sciences, and for the "humanities" profile, a test of your choice for the socio-human subjects - history, logic, philosophy or psychology.

"There is, as before, the test to evaluate the linguistic skills of communication in Romanian, or the linguistic evaluation of communication in the mother tongue, a written exam for everyone in Romanian, with the exception of the philological profile. There are two tests of language skills: international circulation language 1 and 2, and a practical test of digital skills assessment skills, the proficiency tests, i.e. B1, B2, C. So, foreign language 1, foreign language 2, digital competence and the complementary test will be able to be taken during the year, in the twelfth grade, so that we don't get overwhelmed with tests at the end, in the summer or in the fall", explained Ligia Deca.

Translated by: Radu Matei