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8/7/2019 UNICEF Education in Romania
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/unicef-education-in-romania 1/41Education in Romania Country Profle
Context
Romania, a member o the EU since 2007, has mademuch progress toward achieving universal primaryschool completion and has taken huge strides to-
ward achieving the EFA goals. ‘However, while thegross completion rate or students in grades 1-8has increased steadily over the last decade there isa signifcant and increasing rural-urban disparity.
Learning achievements in mathematics, scienceand literacy are somewhat lower among Romanianstudents than that o their peers rom Central and
Eastern European countries. These issues presentRomania with its current educational challenges.’ 1
Reversing the trend o the 1960s and 70s – at whichtime Romania’s child population was one o the larg-
est in Europe - ‘Romania is now experiencing a dra-matic decrease in its child population - rom about6.6 million children below 18 years o age in 1990 to
about 4.4 million in 2005. According to orecasts thisfgure may reach 3.7 million by 2015. The inant andunder fve mortality rates are still ar above those
ound in the European Union and all other Centraland Eastern European countries.’2
Romania’s transition economy is supporting the de-mographic trend and increasing economic growth.Romania has a GNP (PPP) per capita o $8,980 USD,
with an annual growth rate o 7.7%, which is morethan three times that in 2000. However, this GNPis the lowest in South-eastern Europe ater Alba-
nia among countries or which there is data avail-able.3 UNDP ranks Romania 60th out o 177 countrieson the Human Development Index with a value o
(0.813). Despite the ast growing economy, povertyis endemic or many Romanian amilies, with about55% o the population living on less than $4.00 a
day and 22% o the country living below the na-tional poverty line.4 Youth unemployment is a ma-jor problem in the country with about 21% o young
people being unemployed compared to about 8% o
the general population. The lack o job opportuni-
ties is causing income inequality to rise or the nextgeneration. Romania’s gini coefcient is .31, which
is the highest in South-eastern Europe.
Education Reform
Romania has made enormous strides toward im-proving education or all its children. Some impor-tant education reorms are as ollows:
• In 2008 all political parties represented in theParliament signed a National Pact on Educa-tion, in order to boost sustainable reorm. It
has eight objectives, including modernizationo the education system by 2013 increase o
education spending to 6% o GDP by 2013, de-centralization o education fnances, curriculumand human resources, adoption o a ‘funding
follows the student ’ plan and a charter o rights
in education and an extension o the LielongEducation base to 2013.
• The Ministry o Education, Research and Youth
(MoERY), in close par tnership with UNICEF, theNational Authority or Child Rights Protectionand the Ministry o Public Health, developed a
set o Early Learning and Development Stan-
dards (ELDS) to support monitoring and expan-sion o Early Childhood programs. The MoERYis currently developing a curriculum or early
education based on the ELDS.
Education in
Romania
Country Profle
Box 1. Quick Facts about Education in Romania
Romania SEE
Total Population 21.7 50.7
Youth unemployment rate as percentage o unemployment rate 261 x
Percentage o GDP spent on Education 3.60% 3.60%
Net Pre-Primary School Enrolment, 2005 (Gender Parity Index (GPI) (Girls/Boys)) 60 55
Net Enrolment in Primary School, 2005 (GPI) 93 92
Net Enrolment in Secondary School, 2005 (GPI) 80 (1.03) 82
Gross Enrolment in Tertiary Enrolment, 2005 (GPI) 45 (1.26) 35
Student/Teacher Ratio, 2005 17 17
Out o School Children (% girls) 34,000 (52) 80,000
Number o reugees and internally displaced persons o concern 2720 690,000
PISA Score (mathematics (regional rank/17), reading ( ‘ ’’ ’ ), science ( ‘ ’’ ’) ) 415 (14), 396 (14), 418 (14) x
Source: UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008. Innocenti.
8/7/2019 UNICEF Education in Romania
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• The government in partnership with UNICEFcarried out a national media campaign and tele-thon to advocate or the rights o disabled chil-
dren and raise money or their beneft. In 2004,the government extended compulsory school-ing rom eight to 10 years.
• Romania is a leading signatory o the Decade
for Roma Inclusion and has carried out a ‘Sta-tistical Baseline or Monitoring Roma Inclusion’
in cooperation with the EUMAP.5 The MoERY isin the process o creating a more coherent andunifed vision or Roma inclusion strategies, es-
pecially with regard to girls.• The MoERY, in close partnership with UNICEF
and the National Authority or Child Rights Pro-tection, is currently placing as a top priority the
development o a National Strategy on Parent-ing and is developing a General Strategy orMainstreaming Children with Disabilities in theEducational System.
Access
General access to education in Romania is rela-
tively high or the region, when looking at nation-ally aggregated data. Primary net enrolment ratesare 93%, which is on par with regional and sub-
regional averages and the secondary school NERis just below these averages at 80%. Pre-schoolnet enrolment is the highest in the sub-region and
among the highest in the CEE/CIS region at 74%.Tertiary enrolment is also above the regional andsub-regional levels. See Figure 1. There are an es-
timated 34,000 out-o-school children in Romania.6
Equity
With high national enrolment fgures, Romania’sbiggest challenge is in reducing sub-national in-
equities and extending access to education at alllevels to those who are currently excluded. This isa major task because equity gaps are growing.
The equity gaps mirror those in other transitioncountries. The urban-rural gap in educational ac-
cess and quality is increasingly prevalent in Roma-nia’s education system, with children rom remoteareas experiencing lower access to education,
especially pre-primary and secondary education.
Children with special needs and minority children,especially Roma children, are more likely to be out
o school or receive poor quality education. Romachildren are less likely to enrol and complete edu-cation at all levels. See Box 2.
Source: UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008
Figure 1. Net Education Enrolment Ratios in
Romania, Southeastern Europe and the
CEE/CIS Region
90
4143
35
74
83
82
92
55
80
93
45
30
50
70
90
Primary Secondary Pre-Primary Tertiary
NER
CEE/CIS Regional Avg.
Southeastern Europe Avg.
Romania
Figure 2: Romania's Performance on the PISA 2006 Compared to Participating Countries in the CEE/CIS
Region
Poland, 508
Poland, 49
5
Poland, 498
Estonia, 5
01
Estonia, 515
Eston
ia, 531
Slovenia, 494
Slovenia, 504
Slovenia, 519
Czech Repu
blic, 483
Czech R
epublic, 510
Czech R
epublic, 513
Hungary, 48
2
Hungary, 4
91
Hungary, 504
Latvia, 479
Latvia, 486
Latvia, 490
Croatia, 477
Croatia, 467
Croatia, 49
3
Lithuania, 470
Lithuania, 4
86
Lithuania, 4
88
Slovak Republic, 492
Slovak Rep
ublic, 488
Turkey, 447
Turkey, 424
Turkey, 424
Russian Federation, 440
Russian Federation, 476
Russian Fed
eration, 479
Bulgaria, 402
Bulgaria, 413
Bulgaria, 434
Serbia, 401
Serbia, 435
Serbia, 436
Romania, 396
Romania, 415
Romania, 418
Montenegro, 392
Montenegro, 399
Montenegro, 412
Azerbaijan, 353 A
zerbaijan, 476
Azerbaijan, 382
Kyrgystan, 285
Kyrgystan, 311
Kyrgystan, 322
Slovak Repub
lic, 466
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
Reading Mathematics Science
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As a result o new policy initiatives, DDD childrenand ‘institutionalized children have been rapidlymainstreamed in Romania. Boarding schools have
been transormed into ‘placement centres’ andinstitutionalized children have been enrolled inpublic schools. Yet this overnight transition has
let many children, teachers and amilies withoutadequate support in classrooms and has actuallyincreased the dropout rate. Furthermore, ‘even i
some o these children could be brought back intothe system, it may by then be ‘too late’ or many;
or example, i a student is three or more years old-er than his class peers he/she is regarded as ‘over-age’ and reerred to adult classes.’ While DDDchildren’s traditional exclusion rom education isa violation o their rights, rapidly mainstreaming
them without adequate support is only a short-term solution.
School Quality and Learning Outcomes
Proxy indicators o school quality show that edu-cation quality in Romania leaves much to be im-
proved. Dropout rates are high in primary schooland higher still in secondary school. About 9.4% o
students drop out beore grade fve, the majorityo whom drop out ater the frst grade.7 Another
3% do not complete primary school. Inrastruc-tural problems also plague Romania’s outdatedschool buildings.
School violence is also becoming a ormidablethreat to students’ saety in Romanian schools.
‘A number o incidental fndings also indicate an
alarming trend o violence in schools, with per-petrators being either teachers or other children.
Research fndings indicate the presence o sexualabuse and drugs in schools (11% o children).’8
As in other transition countries, education qualityis a major challenge acing policymakers, especial-ly with increasing pressure to match the learning
standards o other EU countries. Romania has tak-en part in three international learning assessments– TIMSS, PISA and PIRLS. Their results show that
Romania lags behind themajority o countries inthe region and alls in
the bottom quartile o allcountries participating inthe test.
On PISA 2006, Roma-nia scored ourth to last
out o participating CEE/ CIS countries in reading,mathematics and science.
In all three subjects, itscored just ahead o Mon-tenegro and Kyrgyzstan
(See Figure 2). It ranked
in the bottom quintile inall three subjects out o
57 participating countries,
Figure 5. Distribution of Reading Achievement on PIRLS Assessment
Overt ime, 2001-2006
400
450
500
550
600
R us s i an F ed er at i on
H ungar y
B ul gar i a
L at v i a
L i t h uani a
S l ov ak R
epub l i c
S l ov eni a
P ol and
Mol d ov a
I nt l ' A v er age
R omani a
Geor gi a
Mac ed on
i a
T ur k ey
2001
2006
Figure 4. Distribution of Overall Mathematics
Achievement on TIMSS Over time, 1999-2001, grade 8
400
450
500
550
Estonia
Hungary
S
lovak Republic
Russian Fed.
Latvia
Lithuania
Slovenia
Armenia
Serbia
Bulgaria
Romania
Intl' Average
Moldova
FYR Macedonia
Overall Average Sca
le Score
1999
2003
Figure 3. Distribution of Overall Science Achievement
on TIMSS over time 1999-2003, grade 8
440
480
520
560
Estonia
Hungary
Slovenia
Lithuania
Slovak Republic
Russian Fed.
Latvia
Bulgaria
Intl' Average
Moldova
Romania
Serbia
Armenia
F
YR Macedonia
Overall Average Scale Score
1999
2003
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coming in 47th, 45 th and 48th in science, mathematics
and reading, respectively.
On TIMSS 2003, Romania’s perormance in the re-
gion was similar. It ranked ourth to last in math-ematics out o participating CEE/CIS countries.However, it scored just below the international
average, ranking 27th o 46 participating countries.
In mathematics, Romania’s perormance declinedbetween 1999 and 2003. In science, Romania
ranked third to last in the CEE/CIS region, scoringjust ahead o Moldova and Macedonia. In science,Romania placed just above the international av-
erage. Romania’s perormance in science stayedrelatively stable over time, increasing slightly. SeeFigure 3.
On PIRLS 2006, Romania scored third to last in theCEE/CIS Region in 2006, ater Turkey, Macedonia
and Georgia, and ranked in the bot tom quintile outo all 57 participating countries. Romania’s scoreon the test declined signifcantly between 2001and 2006, dropping by 24 points; this was the larg-
est decline in the region.
Results rom all three tests show that Romania has
much work to be done to improve learning out-comes so as to rival Central and Western Europe.It seems that reading is an area o particular con-
cern. Education Financing
In 2008, Romania allocated 6% o its GDP to educa-tion or 10.6 billion USD.9 This is an increase rom
2005 when Romania spent only 3.5% on education.
Education Priorities in Romania
While many educational challenges remain or Ro-mania, its priorities lie in the ollowing initiatives:• Improving education coverage or Roma chil-
dren at all levels o schooling.• Decreasing dropouts at the secondary school
level, especially or Roma children.
• Enhancing the learning outcomes o its primaryand secondary school students.
• Raising education standards in Romania to
meet those laid out in the EU’s Lisbon Strategy.
1 UNICEF. 2005. Vulnerable, Excluded and Discriminat-ed Children: A Focused Situational Analysis o Chil-dren in Romania.
2 UNICEF. 2005. Vulnerable, Excluded and Discriminat-ed Children: A Focused Situational Analysis o Chil-dren in Romania.
3 No data is available or BiH, Serbia and Montenegro.4 UNDP Human Development Index Web Site 2008.5 Monitoring Education for Roma. 2006. Budapest:
OSI/EUMAP.6 UNESCO. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008.7 MoERY and the Institute or Educational Sciences.8 UNICEF Romania Web Site.9 Minister o Fiannce.
Box 2. Roma Education in Romania
Romania has the largest Roma population in theCEE/CIS region. Some estimates number up to
two million, which makes up about 10% o the
country’s total population. Roma enrolment andcompletion rates are ar below the national aver-
age or non-Roma children. In primary school,only an estimated 40% o Roma children enrolcompared with the national average o 93%. Ad-
ditionally only about 30% o those who enrol,complete primary school. By secondary school,enrolment estimates drop to around 25%.
‘There are a number o social, economic, cultur-al and systemic causes resulting in non-enrol-ment, non-attendance and school drop-out rates
among Roma children. Poverty and discrimina-tion are two o the most important barriers to
access or Roma children. Some child-relatedcauses include: precarious health conditions,delays in psycho-intellectual development, gen-der-based dierences (according to which girls
get married early, and their social role is to raisechildren and take care o the amily) and poorsel image. The combination o these actors
leads to high dropout rates among Roma chil-dren. Roma children who have dropped out re-port having negative school experiences, which
serve to exacerbate dropout rates.
Low enrolment rates among the Roma are ur-
ther exacerbated by the poor quality o segre-gated schools. When Roma are separated romthe main population in separate schools, they o-
ten receive a poorer quality education than oth-ers. ‘‘Roma school buildings are older and moreovercrowded than other schools, and oten lack
a library. Such schools also have ewer qualifedteachers and signifcantly higher teacher trans-er rates, especially in those with grades 1-4;
67% o Roma schools had a defcit o qualifedteachers, and among schools with 50% or moreRoma students, the defcit was over 80%.’
Source: The participation to education of
Roma children – problems, solutions and ac- tors, 2002; UNICEF Romania home page.
UNICEF Pirozzi