It will be hard to put into practice the Education Code if it is passed in the current form. It will also cause preconditions for corruption and lawsuits, consider experts of the Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Corruption (CAPC). In a news conference at IPN, the Center’s head Galina Bostan said that Parliament passed the Education Code in the first reading as an emergency and the bill wasn’t sufficiently debated.
Expert Viorel Parvan said the bill makes education obligatory up to the age of 18, but the consequences of the non-observance of this provision are not indicated. Thus, there is a risk that this norm wall not be implemented.
The bill specifies the powers of the new institution – the National School Inspectorate – which will be responsible for the assessment of general education, accreditation of institutions and assurance of quality in general education. The author didn’t yet describe the method of creating it, the founders, the personnel, etc.
The education institutions can also have another status besides that of legal entity. This is against the law. Under the Civil Code, the education institutions are legal entities.
The bill provides that all the work contracts of education institution directors will be annulled in 2016. Viorel Parvan said this is against the Labor Code and the basic rights of employees can be infringed. Many directors can get back the post through court.
The Education Code provides that the education institution can lease out certain property, preferably for educational purposes. The CAPC expert said the author didn’t specify the exceptions. Thus, some of the areas could be leased out for commercial activities, which is inadmissible.
The informative note to the bill contains sufficient arguments for its adoption, but does not contain an economic-financial analysis. The adoption of a bill without an economic analysis brings no benefit to the legislation process.
The Education Code was assessed within the project “Harmonization of the legislation with the international human rights standards” that is supported financially by the Civil Rights Defenders of Sweden.
