In the early 2000s, during the years of Romania’s preparation for joining the European Union, Romanian educational institutions benefited from the grace of the Prime Minister, who took care of many and small things. Since then, the reputation of the outstanding politician has been publicly humiliated, and his name has become synonymous with everything else, except for the civilizational trajectory of Romania, to which, paradoxically, he has still put his shoulder – from suicide attempts in front of the cameras (ketchup + Burberry scarf) , against the backdrop of criminal activities, to authorial works in ten volumes containing minutes of government meetings, interviews and personal opinions, written by hot or legal manuals, massively inspired by the West. Despite all the big or small mistakes that have been made over the last quarter of a century, Romania would undoubtedly become a post-Soviet natural companion of the states around the Caspian Sea if we went in this direction, administratively directed by the relevant regime. “statesman”. One of his unforgettable achievements, which reeked of false reformism, was the construction of gymnasiums and the restoration of the material heritage of state educational institutions. It’s true that the gym craze didn’t stop in 2004, but as for those built in canyons, on riverbanks, or in communities that are massively depopulated, we’d rather let a professional sociologist study them. The hardly plagiarized PhD thesis topic could even be called “Sports, Topography and Currency – The Story of a Losing Game”.

Nearly twenty years after the campaign’s debut, the halls are still standing. It is true that rainwater still flows through the ceilings, patched up in portions over a year or five years, or that sometimes in winter you can let off steam as soon as the cold sets in (here global warming gives us the opportunity to enjoy mild yesterday), but the important thing is that these buildings somehow exist. Students of the homeland can take full advantage of them (or maybe vice versa, but we will not predict). But how are they used? What is the procedure for using them? There are several points to discuss here, some more interesting than others, as we shall see.

In the most successful case, sports halls are used outside the regular schedule of physical education and sports lessons or for additional training by specialized school teachers (competitions and contests), or for similar events organized by a sports club. States. Parents pay nothing and the student enjoys the opportunity to play a recreational or athletic sport.

In the most realistic case, the same sports halls can also be rented by private sports associations that hold sports events in the evening, after the end of the course schedule, with students of schools or other educational institutions. Although the sums are small, they, collected every month, are a source of extra-budgetary resources for the school that rents the sports hall (attracting extra-budgetary funds is the desire of the Romanian school today), with which it is possible to purchase sports equipment or one-time investments in IT or scientific laboratories, as well as for the city hall, which by law appropriates half of the money received from the rent. We can talk about the report win-win ideal. Parents are happy to pay 150-200 lei per month to a private sports association in exchange for decent or quality services, the coaches who are usually behind the association make money from their small business, the school and the city hall do not choose with the lot, after paying for electricity, water and demolition of the building, but you can say that it is still better than nothing or a loss.

But are things normal in gyms in Romania? The school is a place that easily falls under the analogy of, call it what you want, budget deficit, low funds, chronic underfunding, etc., so the prosecutor’s office in Romania does not deal with such things. Where a suitcase is stolen, you can no longer count the crumbs. Prosecutors catch sharks, not predatory fish. However, when petty corruption or nitpicking, metastatic, goes unpunished time and time again, even grand corruption cannot be attacked directly. We expect that city halls or school inspectorates will be concerned about the accounting situation of sports halls in Romania assigned to public schools. There is nothing more false: sleepiness, lethargy and guilty apathy merge into a thick institutional fog.

In Romania, sports halls, which by right belong to the local council, i.e. the Romanian state, have a different use than their natural one. They can be hotspots for some middle-aged guys who also want to exercise late at night, maybe after 10:00. If it happens on a weekend night, a few beers, at least three packets of pumpkin seeds and a handful of fun wives/concubines, because that’s what happens in tennis. If, God forbid, an evening accident happened, something caught fire, the police at the scene would not know exactly what to write in the report: who are these gentlemen and ladies? Romika, Buji, Boss, Marinela, will you be there? where am I from? What were you looking for in a gym at that time and in what quality? Did they comply with the regulations of the sports halls? In no case! Don’t ask about the rope in the hanged man’s house. In vain, the adults in the neighborhood shouted angrily, caught in the act: “But we paid for it!”. because the accident would have happened anyway. Who did they pay outside of state laws? Unfortunately, the answer to this question remains: the head of the school. When asked about all this, the director, amid hypocritical objections and intermittent hiccups, answered: “And with me, coane Fănica, live!” difficult at all… What do you say? Great hunger, low reward, according to the budget, coane Fănica”.

It’s just that reality trumps any fiction, and the “reward” cannot be avoided if we add another layer of truth to the incident: how will it happen if, without any lease agreement and in parallel with any security provisions, certain sports federations see a profitable operation with dozens and hundreds of students in the same gym, who still consume electricity, water, gas for free, paying, of course, the money of the stupid taxpayer? It would be great on the pocket for sure. The principal will blithely claim his share, the coaches will happily attend without fees (not protective) and shameful rents, and the father, who will pay modest sums, though receiving no receipts in return, will declare himself satisfied. : , “Look, Nene, and my participation in sports!” If this unconsciousness-indulgence is of any use, let’s say a poor kid who is actually playing sports breaks a leg, an arm, or due to unknown medical conditions, a minor suffers an unforeseen medical crisis. What would happen then? We called 112 in hysterics, the police arrived, the television broadcast the news as another proof of the gross incompetence of politicians, budgets, and the privatized Romanian state, although the Romanian father is actively involved in what happened. Father of a Romanian student, why do you leave your child in the hands of those who engage in illegal business because of your vanity of social aggrandizement? “Leave it to me, Nene, that’s how it is. What do you want? You came here to beat me over the head with your nonsense. It’s like that everywhere. What if I give them away? We understood each other like people… I gave it to him, he did his job. Nothing happened. what’s wrong with you Why are you exaggerating? Why would you spoil my vow? Don’t be mad that I’m teasing you…” Read the full article and comment on Contributors.ro