The school curriculum was modernized in 2010 and the bodies responsible for education turned their attention now to the training of teachers, expert in social policies Viorica Antonov has told IPN. According to the specialist, the parents and school should play an increasing role in education, as institutions and tutors of the national heritage in the supervision and orientation to relevant teachings, appropriate for the personality of the student, both in the classroom and outside it.

Viorica Antonov spoke about two currents of influence on students. In one of them, a major role is played by the teacher-student and student-student relationships, with an indirect impact on the teacher-teacher and teacher-parent relationships on students. The other current is external in nature, being typical of the social environment where the student is during the largest part of his time or of out-of-school activities, where he adjusts himself to or imposes particular conditions, interacts with the mates and where the teaching duty is taken over practically by the community or the environment where he lives.

“Regretfully, today it is more evident that not all the practices observable in the classroom are oriented towards developing the capacities and skills of students. This makes them vulnerable to the challenges faced in the community were they live,” said the expert in social policies.

According to Viorica Antonov, in a school the children’s rights must be respected, while the principle of equality between students must be the driving force in their educational development. Schools must respect the multicultural diversity and prospects and create all the necessary conditions for leaving no room for xenophobia and discrimination.

Asked about the informal payments at school, such as those for the class fund, or different tutorials, Viorica Antonov said a sociological study shows that these practices persist, being the result of the reduced budgets of the education institutions. “As there is no well-thought-out and transparent legal and administrative framework for financial contributions, the collection of informal taxes becomes a part of the informal economy and, respectively, an illegal economic activity,” said the expert.

Now that the new Education Code was adopted, one of the expectations concerns the improvement of the quality of studies so that they meet the European standards. The Education Code allows extending the autonomy of education institutions and makes education mandatory up to the age of 18. It also includes learning measures for children with special educational needs and envisions the strengthening of vocational education by modernizing their equipment.