The romanian education system (review)

Education is a vital element for the healthy development of a society , when we  refer to the school system we tend to paint the classical image of a state owned institution  which bases its educational activity on a rigid curriculum that each student must respect.

This image can characterize very well my country in which the school system proved repetitively its lack of ability to prepare students for the job market.  In the last two decades  the romanian political scene was marked by high note on instability which triggered a series a failed reforms in the educational system .

   The major problem of this reforms was there lack of perspective and  not tacking in account the fact that in order to create a competitive market you need specialists in each economic sector . 

   The ministers refused to initiate a reform that will turn educational institutions in to “training camps” in which students will  developed practical skills which will help them to integrate in the job market after graduation .

.What the reforms basically did was to change the admission policies for high schools and universities but did very little about the most crucial point on the agenda : to redesign the curriculums for both  preuniversity  and university levels.

   In order to gain a better understanding of the romanian educational system I will list a number of aspects that inhibits any kind of productivity when we refer to the educational process:

1.  Theory over practical skills – This is a very well know fact here , the curriculum that is used by public (state owned) educational institutions focuses more on stuffing the brains of its students with tones of theoretical concepts but it never makes the connection between theory and practice . High school students will learn chemistry  (equations , formulas , substances) but they will rarely learn chemistry notions that are useful for their everyday lives.

2.  The liquidation of professional schools – Professional schools provided experts for the job market in industrial fields and services . In order to maintain this schools at a proper level of functioning the ministry had to provide funds for materials , workshops and laboratories .

 Professional education in Romania was a alternative to high school and would provide the students with the practical skills needed to obtain a job after graduation . Opposed to the high school circle  which lasted 4  years , professional schools had 2 or 3 year programs.

   A other reason for the liquidation of this institution was given by the low level of students that entered this schools . After the revolution of ’89 more and more children wanted to go to theoretical high schools  and the professional schools where left as trash bins for all that general schools had bad to offer . The idea that professional schools students are “stupid” or “losers” was promoted becoming  embarrassing for a kid and his parents to go to such institutions .

   The side effects of this decision are almost deadly for the job market , students graduating high school at 18 years old don’t have any practical skills that would help them to obtain a job after thus they need to apply for a college degree in order to get a reasonable amount of skills for building a career.

3. The lack of colabroation between employeers and universities – College students don’t  have practical courses in their  educational plan ,  I talked about about the incapacity of high schools to develop pratical skills for their students but this problem dosen’t end with high schools , it acually extends to university level.  

   Many universities even today are stangers regarding the notion of internship.Students leave universities only with purely theoretical concepts and with a lack of practical ones. A other problem regarding universites is that many specializations functioning  in various faculties didan’t upgraded their educational plan for a significant number of years .

.As a result students learn subjects , ideas , concepts that aren’t used anymore in their study  filed . Even worst the universites neglect the expectations that employeers have and they don’t make efforts for developing a more market frendly curriculum .

4. Oversized classes in both preuniversity institutions and universities – Classes of almost 30 students in highschools and even bigger in universties . The big number of students makes even harder  the educational process .  When we talk about universities we should also about the unrealistic number of places for each specialization that avaible for admission .

  Let’s say you have the situation where in the Law Faculty you have 400+ students only in the first year of study and theres a total of 4 years for this program  , even taking in account  the ones that drop out the number is huge and the job market can integrate all of them . As a result the majority of them will have just a fancy diploma which will never help them in obtaining a job .  The number of place in a faculty are nor calculated in such way to meet the needs of the market . 

5.  „Ghost universities” and  „Diploma Mills” -  Universities that  have unauthorized programs and  still organize admission sessions are part of the „usual” component” of the education scene. Do to institutions like this the market is oversaturated by worthless or even fake diplomas. „Diploma Mill” is the term applied usually to low standard universities which are more profit oriented . This universities are tempting do to their low anual fees and their evaluation methods at exams.In Romania the majority of universities labeled as „Diploma Mills” are private ones.

6. The lack of complementary courses – Students don’t have the possibility of choosing recreational courses which they can attend in their free time . This courses are meant to develop extra skills from the ones that their  specialty courses do  . Also their are a good way of doing something productive with extra energy.

7. The small number of schools with a medical cabinet – Medical assistence should be avaible in every school but this is not case in our system . Many schools don’t have a  medical cabinet especially those situated in rural areas . If we want to extend this idea we must add the fact that many schools from rural aren’t equipped with interior bathrooms with running water.

8. Security system for schools – The security that schools give to children is quite limited , many of this institutions don’t have a strong security system who wold ensure student’s  security during classes and breaks. As a result people from outside the institution can have easy acces inside and potentiale generate unwanted situations.

This are only a few of the problems which the current system is facing , in order to create a more result oriented and safe school environment the authorities must realise that if this country wont have a well put together school system the future of our nation can be put under a big question sing.