​Six student associations in the country have accused the National Student Council (CNE) of thinking about a new form of student charter to be adopted and through which all student associations could be dissolved. Associations attack the CNE and say that such a measure “will steal the independence and freedom of students.”

The new Student Statute needs to be adopted in view of the fact that there is a new Law on Education, which came into force in September.

In this context, the National Council of Students came with 51 pages of proposals. These include requiring students to have more freedom when it comes to choosing electives, providing more support for students with special educational needs, and more.

Student associations: CNE’s proposals for a new Student Charter are dangerous

The position of the proposals from the CNE worries the student associations in the country – the Student Association of Constanța (AEC), the Student Association of Bacău (AEBc), the Student Association of Valcău (AVE), the Student Association of Bucharest and Ilfov (AEBI), the Association Elevilor din Maramureș (AEM) and the Asociatia Elevilor din Timiș (AETm), calling the CNE proposals “unworkable and dangerous”.

“This form of the charter poses a potential threat of dissolution for all student associations in the country, because in section II of Art. 38, the conditions for the existence of student associations are established, which cannot be fulfilled by any public organization. The problematic articles stipulate that, as a condition for the representativeness of the association, it must have branches in at least 50%+1 of the district’s high schools, an absurd condition for an organization in which students are not required to register, and have at least 5 members in each high school in the district,” says the joint press release of six student associations.

They also note that “the document looks more like a ready-to-promulgate final form of the Statute than a set of student claims, which raises suspicions about the authors and intentions of this document.”

“Independence and freedom of students will be stolen”

Student associations explain that if this provision were adopted, students in the country could be left with fewer representatives to fight for their rights.

• “In practice, they want student associations to function and be regulated as CNEs, which is not possible due to the optional association registration and the fact that we work with a single administration (BC) at the district level, not a progressive Matryoshka-type system with executive bodies at the school, district and national levels.
• Thanks to these measures, the independence and freedom of students will be stolen, representative independent associations will be dissolved, leaving only the option to join the CNE, a dependent body created and influenced by the Ministry of Education,” explained representatives of the student organization. associations, who say they oppose “this attempt by the National Student Council and its founder to take absolute control over decisions in the educational system, and we will not allow these proposals to be implemented in the new Charter.”

In the new law on pre-university education, in Article 105, it is stated that all major decisions in the educational system will be made after consultation with “representatives of the main beneficiaries, respectively the National Council of Students and other national representative associations. students”.

The National Student Council has structures in every high school in all districts of the country (“School Council of Students”), and the regulations for the organization and operation of this structure were approved by the order of the Minister of Education, so the accusations come from the students’ association that it will be a government-dependent structure.

HotNews.ro tried to get the point of view of CNE representatives regarding the accusations of student associations, but we did not receive a response.