The president of the PSD National Council, Vasile Dinku, harshly criticizes Ligia Deku, the Minister of Education, speaking of the “secrecy of education laws and disdain for dialogue and cooperation.” He charges that the recall of Secretary of State Florin Lixandra (PSD) was an “authoritarian and totalitarian act” and says the PSD will be “forced” to ask the Deca League to resign if it does not reverse the decision. .

Secretary of State Florin Lixandroi announced on Wednesday that Minister Lygia Deka had stepped down from her pre-university education and parliamentary relations duties due to “violations of opinion” after she argued that education laws should be discussed “thoroughly, without haste”. with an extended calendar for public review and adoption.

According to some political sources, on Wednesday evening PSD leader Marcel Čolaku asked for the reinstatement of Florin Lixandra at the coalition meeting. The same sources told HotNews.ro that Prime Minister Nikolaj Čuke would say that he was not aware of the decision of the Decca League, which was also present at the coalition meeting.

The coalition’s decision would be for PSD State Secretary Florin Lixandrou to be reinstated, but Ligia Deka said she would give him other duties and that from now on she would hold discussions so that “the ministerial team has the same message agreed in the coalition.” , – the cited sources also claimed.

On Thursday morning, the president of the PSD National Council, Vasile Dinku, published a long message on Facebook, in which he accused the “difficult behavior of the Minister of Education regarding the attitude towards the coalition partners and the beneficiaries and participants of the education system”.

“An authoritarian and totalitarian act reminiscent of times we thought were long gone”

He accuses Dinka of “secrecy surrounding education laws and disdain for dialogue and cooperation” and says that “attempting to pass laws through formal consultations with coalition parties in two days” left the PSD “in the dark.” position to ask for more time for in-depth analysis and consultation with people and organizations in the education system.’

• “The action to recall Mr. Florin Lixandro, the Secretary of State, for crimes against belief is an authoritarian and totalitarian act that reminds us of a time we thought was long gone.
• This abuse of power by a new and at the same time young minister draws our attention to the need to think about changes in the functioning of the government and the exercise of ministerial responsibility.
• Exercising a high dignity, such as the position of a minister, requires the use of authority, but at the same time it cannot be exercised at one’s own discretion or according to the criteria of political sympathies.
• I think that the minister will have the sense to reconsider this decision, otherwise we are obliged to demand the resignation of the minister and refuse to cooperate with his team, that is, we – PSD – withdraw the powers delegated by voting for this leadership. team,” says Vasile Dinku.

“PNRR is not asking to disrupt the entire system”

He also says that, together with his PSD colleagues, he found that “the urgent approval, without discussion, of these two laws is the biggest problem expressed by the minister, falsely linking it to the possibility of losing the funding that the minister provides to the PNRR”.

• “With all due respect, I want to remind the Minister of Education that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, where Romania has earmarked €3.6 billion for education alone, does not require new education laws.
• PNRR is not asking us to disrupt the entire system, but is asking us, in accordance with our commitment expressed by the government that PNL was part of and led at Prime Ministerial level, to introduce legislative changes that will facilitate the implementation of reforms and investments with a deadline in in the third quarter of 2023 in areas such as sustainable digitalization infrastructure, teaching careers, system funding, digitalization, inclusive education, etc.
• The PNRR has targets and deadlines to be met, and precise legislative measures are provided for all elements of the reform, which can even be implemented by ministerial order. In the meantime, a lot of money has come in for digitisation, for tackling school drop-outs, for equipping laboratories and classrooms, we have a huge €1 billion in funding that we need to access and spend wisely.
• The Ministry of Education should focus, as the educators suggest, on the rapid creation (it should already exist!) of an interministerial group that will deal with the implementation of the projects provided for in the PNRR, prepare monthly or quarterly progress reports, adopt the GD with conditions and obligations, as well as a legislative package , aimed at these elements (…)
• Public opinion and the educational environment are waiting for an answer from Minister Ligia Deka regarding the stage of implementation of these elements of the reform in Educated Romania and in PNRR, the effective, pragmatic and quick organization of these projects,” added Dincu.

It also has four questions:

• “Do we have such a team?
• Do we have an event plan and an accurate calendar?
• Is the stage of implementation of educational measures constantly at every meeting of the government?
• Do we know who is responsible for each project so that the public can monitor how these goals are being achieved?’

“My duties were removed for a crime in my mind”

• “For a crime of conviction, my duties were revoked today. PSD’s view of education laws is that they are too important projects to be thoroughly debated at leisure!
• PSD will discuss with the coalition the creation of an expanded calendar for public review and adoption.
• There is plenty of time, the PNRR phase on education laws should be submitted in the 3rd quarter of this year; In addition, including the European Commission, he recommends that projects involving systemic reforms, therefore also those related to the Education Act, should not be rushed with deadlines, but should be qualitatively prepared/completed by the date of submission of the payment request, i.e. by March 2024,” Liksandru wrote on his Facebook page.

According to him, PSD’s analysis of draft laws developed by the Ministry of Education “highlighted the need to correct some key issues that determine the future of children.”

Liksandrou says that PSD will not agree to a formula “that drastically limits” children’s access to quality education for secondary school admissions. In his opinion, it is “at least debatable” whether universities can have the right to organize their own admission, since “this will increase the risk of unfair practice” of meditations and “corruption”.

At the same time, Florin Lixandrou claimed that regarding the bachelor’s exams, the PSD “views with great reservations” the increase of examination tests, as proposed in the draft.

• “Cancellation of teacher specialization in pedagogical universities and modification of teacher training; this is not an option, especially in the conditions of an acute shortage of dedicated teachers. Special education, which, in our opinion, should also take into account the reality of the school’s material base. Last but not least, the law on education should contain provisions regarding children from the diaspora. If we still want Romanians to return home, we have to find the right solutions for the integration of children born and raised in the diaspora,” said Lixandru.

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