Ombudswoman for children’s rights Maia Bănărescu calls on the authorities to take into account the children’s opinion in the process of taking decisions concerning the organization of Baccalaureate exams, IPN reports.

Maia Bănărescu said she followed the method of organizing distance learning as part of the process of monitoring the situation concerning the observance of children’s rights during the state of emergency and consulted lyceum students about the readiness to take the Baccalaureate exams.

In this regard, the students were asked to complete a questionnaire concerning the accessibility of the distance learning platforms, the quality and efficiency of distance learning for passing Baccalaureate exams in the pandemic situation and the method of taking these exams.

The questionnaire was filled out voluntarily and anonymously, with the participation of over 1,400 students. According to the results, over 88% of the surveyed students consider the online training for the Baccalaureate exams was inefficient, while over 93% said the Baccalaureate test papers should include only the topics studied until March 10. Also, 75.6% of the polled students said the Baccalaureate exams should be annulled, while 19% said the exams should be put off.

As a result, Maia Bănărescu requested the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research and the Commission for Exceptional Situations to take into account the survey results and to offer the children, especially the adolescents, the possibility of playing an active role in the processes that concern their future.

Earlier, the ombudswoman for children’s rights said the holding of candidate pre-testing as part of the national graduation exams and the examination session of 2020 is inopportune. She proposed working out the graduation exam papers for ninth and twelfth graders only based on the contents studied before March 10.