The education general strike, the biggest such protest in 18 years, has entered its second week, with teachers’ unions announcing the strike will continue until they demand both pay and the “future of education”. The union leaders’ announcement comes after President Klaus Iohannis attacked the teachers, saying the government would give them “everything they asked for”.

General strike in schoolsPhoto: INQUAM Photos / Octav Ganea

While more than 300,000 students are theoretically due to prepare for national end-of-year exams – the National Assessment and Baccalaureate – the general strike in education has entered its second week and will continue until at least Tuesday, when a new round of negotiations will begin. should happen

This is after all the discussions and negotiations between the Government and the education unions failed.

The education strike continues. Trade unions: “Change your discourse and assume that from today education will be a national priority”

Education unions have announced that the teachers’ strike will continue until their demands for pay and the “future of education” are resolved. They say the government’s response to their protest “leads us to believe that they will go back to the old ways after this strike is over.”

According to the press release of the main federations of trade unions in the field of education, the main requirements are:

  • establishing by law that the salary of a beginning teacher must be at least equal to the average gross salary in the economy
  • application of the tariff grid for education in a term shorter than the three years announced by the Government
  • the salary increase is even higher than in the decree issued the other day
  • providing from January 1, 2024, at least 15% of the expenditures of the consolidated budget for education

“Stop scolding us, stop sending us to classes! Change the language and start from the fact that education will become a national priority from today,” say the trade unions.

Attack of Yohannis

The highly critical reaction of the unions came after late last week President Klaus Iohannis launched a scathing attack on teachers who decided to continue the strike.

“How dare anyone jeopardize the national exams? (…) The government gave them everything they asked for, why should they continue the strike?” said the head of state.

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Trade unions accuse that the teachers’ demands are not included in the GEO recently adopted by the Government

The most recent executive proposal passed through GEO was a salary increase of 1,000 lei gross for teachers and 400 lei gross for non-teaching staff, with further gradual salary increases over the next three years through the upcoming salary law.

However, union leaders say that the Government’s proposal does not meet the demands of the striking teachers, and the main demand of the teachers does not appear in the government’s order. The executive branch responded Friday through spokesman Dan Carbonara, who says the reference the unions pointed out as missing from GEO can be found in an explanatory note to the order, but it should be noted that the explanatory note does not carry the force of law.

The president of the “Spiru Haret” Federation, Marius Nistor, once again emphasized that the demand of trade unionists to increase the salary of newcomers is not contained in the text of the Government’s order, but only in the explanatory memorandum. and the striking teachers do not want to stop the labor conflict because they have no guarantees of salary increases and investment in education.

The leader of the Federation of Trade Unions “Spiru Kharet” clarified that 75 percent of teachers are on strike.

Over 300,000 students are waiting to sit their undergraduate and national assessment exams

About 183,000 Year 8 students are due to take national assessments and 142,000 Year 12 students are due to take the Baccalaureate, and if teachers do not return to school soon, the calendar for these exams will be rescheduled due to “extensions and rescheduling of tests”, she announced. Minister of Education Lygia Deka

“I don’t think any teacher wants a generation of 8th and 12th graders to fail national exams,” Deka said.

Registration for the 2023 bachelor’s external examination was scheduled for Monday, May 29, and the Ministry of Education has extended until June 9 the registration period for BAC candidates, as well as the end of school situation for final year students.

According to the current calendar, the first competency test will begin on June 12, and the first written test is scheduled for June 26.

The 2023 national assessment for 8th graders will begin on June 19 with a Romanian language test.

Ligia Deka asked the teaching staff to return to classes this week so that all students can pass the national assessment and the baccalaureate and the school year can be completed in good conditions, she said that at the same time negotiations with trade unionists for other demands can continue.

Undergraduate calendar 2023

The 2023 undergraduate examination calendar was scheduled to begin on May 29 with the opening of candidate registration for the first session of the BAC, with written tests beginning on June 26. The final results of the first session of BAC 2023 will be announced on July 7. What is the new calendar:

  • May 29 – June 9, 2023: registration of candidates for the first examination session
  • 06/09/2023: End of 12th/13th grade classes
  • June 12 – 14, 2023: Assessment of oral communication skills in Romanian – test A
  • June 14 – 15, 2023: Assessment of speaking skills in the native language – test B
  • 14 – 16 June 2023: Digital Skills Assessment – Test D
  • June 19 – 21, 2023: Assessment of language skills of an international language – test C

BAC 2023 written tests

  • 06/26/2023: Romanian language and literature – test Ea) – written test
  • 27.06.2023: mandatory profile testing – Ec test) – written testing
  • 28.06.2023: External examination on choosing a profile and specialization – Ed test) – written external examination
  • 06/29/2023: Native language and literature – written external examination
  • July 3, 2023: display of results of written tests until 12:00 and submission of appeals from 12:00 to 18:00.
  • July 4 – 6, 2023: review of applications
  • July 7, 2023: Display of final results

National assessment calendar 2023

The 2023 national assessment for 8th graders will begin on June 19 with a Romanian language test.

For eighth grade students, the school year lasts 35 weeks and ends on June 9, 2023.

  • June 6 – 9, 2023 – Registration for the 2023 ZNO
  • 06/09/2023 – End of classes in the 8th grade
  • 06/19/2023 – Romanian language and literature – written test
  • 06/21/2023 – Mathematics – written test
  • 06/22/2023 – Native language and literature – control written work
  • June 28, 2023 (until 14:00) – Display of results before appeals
  • 28.06.2023 (16.00 – 19.00) – 29.06.2023 (08.00 – 12.00) – Submission of applications.
  • June 29 – July 4, 2023 – Resolution of appeals
  • 07/04/2023 – Display of final results after resolving appeals

Grades V-VIII GPA will be removed from the calculation of the GPA for high school entrance, so the graduate ranking will be based only on GPA on the national assessment starting in the 2022-2023 school year.