Students in grades V-IX will receive free meals at school beginning in September 2025. This announcement was made by Minister of Education and Research Dan Perciun during a press conference, IPN reports.

According to Dan Perciun, the implementation format for this initiative will be determined between January and February, based on the size of the schools and the capacity of their cafeterias. Details will be presented after a final decision is made.

At the same time, the minister stated that in 2025, the ministry will focus on five major priorities to develop a high-performing and sustainable education system:

Investing in teaching staff.

Modernizing infrastructure and equipping institutions.

Updating the curriculum to meet 21st-century challenges and labor market demands.

Promoting academic integrity at all levels.

Ensuring the inclusion and physical and emotional well-being of all students, children, and learners.

The "Investing in Educators" and "Investing in Teachers" programs will continue to provide free access to training and retraining for teaching staff. This year, the program will also extend to school directors, support staff, psychologists, and speech therapists. Additionally, 6,000 teachers will be trained in digital skills and certified in this area. The process for teacher retraining will be simplified, and 5,000 more teaching projects will be developed this year.

Dan Perciun also mentioned plans to revisit the issue of increasing bonuses for university teaching staff with doctoral and habilitation degrees within the first six months of 2025, with significant increases planned for the first semester of the year.

The "Be PRO" campaign will resume in 2025, aiming to encourage more young people to enroll in pedagogy programs and to allocate more graduates to schools across the country. Starting in January, doctoral scholarships will be doubled or tripled, reaching up to 4,400 lei. The government decision for this is expected to be approved by the end of this month. Currently, these scholarships range between 1,830 and 2,190 lei.

The ministry will continue procuring school buses this year. A tender has already been launched to purchase 39 buses, including high-capacity ones with up to 35 seats.

More than 20 million lei will be invested in vocational schools and colleges to develop infrastructure and improve living conditions, including dormitory repairs, energy efficiency measures, and enhancing the quality of professional training. Technical design work is underway for 35 model schools, and this project will be expanded to 90 educational institutions.

In 2025, additional resources will be mobilized for further investments. The ministry is actively negotiating a €35 million financing agreement with the Council of Europe Development Bank for model schools. Moreover, the current project with the World Bank, aimed at modernizing universities, will be extended with an additional €30 million.