Approximately 7,000 jobs of teacher remain unoccupied in national schools. Even if about 1,000 persons annually graduate from teacher-training educational institutions, only 200 of them go to work in education. Out of the teachers working at present, about 30% are pensioners. This means that without major interventions on the part of the state things will worsen, Minister of Education and Research Dan Perciun stated in Parliament, IPN reports.
The minister noted that there are 24,000 teachers for 31,000 existing jobs. “This means that a large part of them work more, for one norm and a half, for example, and teach 27 hours or even 32 hours a week. They often teach subjects that they didn’t study at the faculty and have to study them on the way. On the other hand, this overloading ensures higher incomes, but also means occupational burnout, a huge effort. The teachers need to recover. This intense work regime hampers the practicing of the profession with maximum devotion, with excellence, energy and enthusiasm,” said the minister.
“So, when we have a shortage of 7,000, only 200 people come to the system. You realize that 30 years are needed to cover this shortage if all those who work at present remain and no one grows older, no one retires, etc. It is equally important to keep those who work now in the system. They are the heroes due to whom this system continues.”
Dan Perciun said that the Ministry of Education will propose introducing allowances for teachers who need to transfer to a neighboring education al institution. Besides raising the teachers’ pay by 15% from next year, there will be approved the first debureaucratization package. All the external assessments of educational institutions will be ceased as these do not produce results, but require a lot of time for scanning documents and for other formalities that do not ensure quality. The Ministry aims to simplify the nomenclature of documents that should exist in a school so that the teachers have more time to deal with children and are spared of paper work.
“We need each teacher in this country, regardless of their age and experience. The shortage is so large that we cannot lose at least someone. In all its actions, the Ministry of Education will support the teachers and will offer the opportunities needed for them to continue work in the system, to excel and bring about results,” stated the minister.
