Education Minister Sorin Kimpeanu accused a government-accredited journalist HotNews.ro of “fake news” who asked him what criteria were used to cancel scholarships for 5th graders. The order of the minister regarding the appointment of scholarships stipulates that merit scholarships will be awarded only to students of grades VI-XII, until now, students of grade V will receive them from the second semester, based on the average score for the first semester. Cîmpeanu tried to explain that the 5th graders will receive a stipend of 150 lei for 9 months. However, the criteria for awarding these types of scholarships are different.

The order of the Minister of Education regarding the criteria for awarding scholarships in the 2022-2023 academic year, published on September 12 in the “Official Gazette”, provides that high school students from rural areas who study outside the city will no longer receive a scholarship of 200 lei, and students 5th graders no longer receive the merit scholarship, which was awarded in the second semester based on the grades for the first semester: “The merit scholarship is awarded to students of grades VI-XII, from the regular state. courses of pre-university education”.

Now the structure of the academic year is different – ​​instead of two semesters, there are 5 academic modules and 5 vacations. However, the terms and conditions of merit scholarships and tuition scholarships are also different.

Merit scholarships are awarded solely based on a student’s GPA, while tuition scholarships are also based on family income. Scholarships are awarded to students with a grade point average above 7.50, but who come from families with an average net monthly income per family member in the last 3 months prior to application, at most equal to the minimum net wage in the economy, in accordance with Ministry Order No. 5,379 of September 7, 2022.

In recent days, this measure has been criticized by the National Council of Students, which accused the unfairness of students who no longer benefit from the social scholarship if they study away from home, as well as the People’s Advocate. .

In a statement sent to Edupedu.ro, the People’s Advocate criticized the abolition of social scholarships for high school students studying elsewhere and said “the inequality between students from rural areas and students from cities, which even contradicts the Educated Romanian Project.”

And Save the Children Romania condemned on Wednesday “the cancellation without any justification of the 5th grade merit scholarship and the social assistance scholarship for students from rural areas studying in high school elsewhere, by the decision of the Ministry of Education through the Ministerial Order No. 5379 dated September 7, 2022, in conditions where the injustice of the education system and school dropouts have become chronic, in the absence of comprehensive measures to reduce them.”

This is despite dropout rates remaining unchanged over the past 10 years, with 35,259 pupils, of which 20,878 were from primary and secondary schools and 14,381 from high schools, dropped out of school in 2019/2020.

In addition, Romania registered 15.6% of young people aged 18-24 who completed only eight grades or less, although the target set by Romania in 2010 was to reduce this phenomenon to 11.3% until the end of 2020.

Education Minister accuses HotNews journalist who asked him about scholarships of “fake news”.

At a briefing at the end of the cabinet meeting, Victoria Palace-accredited HotNews journalist Sorin Kimpeana asked his justification for canceling the merit scholarship for 5th graders and the social assistance scholarship for rural students studying in another school. locality

Answer of the Minister of Education:

• “Here’s an example of the fake news you just slipped into a statement. This is how students of the 5th grade use scholarships.
• And for the first time in post-December history, these scholarships are awarded from the first day of the academic year. Until now, fifth-graders received scholarships for merit in the second semester, for 4 months. The scholarships were worth 200 lei if you mean these scholarships. Few people received these scholarships.
• At the moment, all these students receive scholarships in the amount of 150 lei, grants for studies for 9 months. As a father, I would watch – which is better? Should I get a stipend of 200 lei for 4 months like before or should I get a stipend of 150 lei per month for 9 months like now?
• “In the 5th grade, 9 months with a 150 lei stipend per student is better than having 4 months with a 200 lei stipend, as it was before. Multiplying 9 to 150 versus multiplying 4 to 200, I think, is part of first grade math lessons.”

(From minute 40)