Should education laws be repealed and reformed? Which provisions of the draft laws are the most discussed during the holidays from July 13 to August 24? We will try to answer these questions together with Professor Daniel Davyd, rector of Babes Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, and writer Radu Vanka. I am a teacher at Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu are invited to a HotNews LIVE interview every Tuesday from 3 p.m.

The interview will be broadcast on the Hotnews.ro Facebook and YouTube pages.

• Readers can ask questions to the guests using the comment form at the end of the article.

The draft law on pre-university education and the draft law on university education have been publicly debated just as most teachers are on vacation, and the minister of education, Sorin Kimpeanu, has announced that he wants the two laws to be passed at the end of the parliamentary year and then promulgated by the president Klaus Johannis.

The two projects, which involve major changes in the education system, including regarding national exams, have been challenged by 100 intellectuals, including Gabriel Liicana, Mircea Mikle, Andrej Kornea, Nicolae Manolescu, who include academician Eugene Simion and more than 50 other teachers.

They demanded a re-analysis of the provisions and an extension of the period of public discussion, as well as “real involvement and consultation with Romanian intellectuals, the teaching staff and parents, i.e. those who are directly interested, in the formulation of the proposals.”

The signatories also demanded the removal of several articles, such as those providing for the organization of separate admission to national colleges or the transfer of children’s palaces, children’s clubs and school sports clubs from the Ministry of Education to local councils.

In a statement to HotNews, the Minister of Education sharply and offensively responded to the 100 intellectuals, calling them an “interest group”.

Additionally, on August 27, Deklich launched a petition to fire Minister Kimpeanu and to withdraw the draft laws on education, a petition that had collected more than 32,700 signatures by Tuesday morning.

The initiators of the “United for Education” campaign present 10 arguments for the withdrawal of the draft laws and the “immediate dismissal” of Minister Sorin Kimpeanu, among which:

• 1. These bills lack vision and coherence, and are proposed as a collection of administrative measures that create chaos and gridlock in the education system.
• 2. Draft laws were developed without consultation with education experts from major Romanian universities.
• 3. Consultations around them were deliberately conducted during vacations and legal rest of teachers, scientists and students, which thus affected the legally established social rights of these social categories.
• 4. The duration of the consultation was terribly short to ensure a real social and professional dialogue around projects that risk affecting the lives of the whole society for a very long time.
• 5. Consultations took place in a controlled, politicized environment, with partners approved by the Minister, from whom critical views on the projects were excluded.