REF Romania foundation was invited to attend a meeting of the Cross-departmental Taskforce of the Romanian Government, along with various other stakeholders in the field of education, such as NGO representatives, school managers, labour unions, and student organizations. This taskforce will assist the Ministry of Education and Research in drawing up the measures that will ensure a safe kick-off of the 2020-2021 school year, as of September.
Ms. Raluca Turcan, Deputy Prime Minister in the Romanian Government, attended the meeting, as well as Education Minister, Ms. Monica Anisie, and Ms. Ligia Deca, advisor to the President of Romania in matters of education.
As of September, classes must resume in perfect health and safety conditions, and this challenge poses an even higher difficulty degree in disadvantaged communities, where access to running water is scarce. One of the thing we proposed was to identify solutions that will allow school children access to water and soap, to provide a working sewage system for their communities and, where this is not possible, to have the local councils provide water containers or tanks.
Local authorities should also be providing pupils and teachers alike with surgical masks, disinfectant and rubber gloves. Also, since almost 1.200 schools in Romania have latrines instead of toilets, we recommended that these amenities be sanitized as often and as efficiently as possible. We also suggested that the school year starts two weeks ahead of its normal schedule, allowing students extra time to go through their missed lessons from the time of the quarantine. This is particularly important for the students who are in their final year.
REF Romania also recommended that health education classes be added to the school curricula. Another one of our initiatives was to extend the duration of the school year. We also suggested that every available space in a school’s building be converted into a classroom, allowing students to attend classes in the smallest numbers possible per room. Local authorities, to this end, should identify, sanitize and reuse other premises at their disposal, and convert them for school purposes. Children from disadvantaged or vulnerable communities should also be provided with a daily basic meal package, regardless of their daily attendance in person to school activities.
