The president of the General Association of Teachers of Romania Viorel Dolha believes that the state must ensure a good salary so that people with good training not persons who studied the worst at school are employed and remain in the educational system. In a public debate hosted by IPN, Viorel Dolha, who is also a primary school teacher at “Vasile Goldiș” National College in Arad, said that if education is attractive, many more people will be interested and thus competition for the position of teacher will be ensured. As a result, the best will take up teaching, which is extremely beneficial for the students and also for the entire society.

Viorel Dolha, who is currently participating in Chisinau in the International Congress of Teachers from Romania and Romanian Teachers Abroad, said he was shocked by the low level of salaries received by Moldovan teachers. “In order to attract young people and to motivate them to come from the faculty to a teaching career, you have to motivate them. The young professionals are also thinking about starting a family, bringing some money home. I have a salary of€ 2,000 as a teacher teaching to the fourth grade. The counterparts from Moldova were surprised because some of them have four to five times less. It is difficult” said the president of the General Association of Teachers of Romania.

 “I have €2,000 because I have seniority, I have ranks and the authorities thought about it, but they also had to think about the strike action what we, the teaching staff, took. We thought about the beginners, about the future. They need to see that they are financially motivated. They should not go home without €1,000. This would be a step to ensure greater competition, which is for the good of children and for parents’ peace of mind,” stated Viorel Dolha.

The teacher noted that the parents also supported the teachers’ strike because they are also interested in their children having the best teachers. “The parents don’t want to entrust their child to someone who was the worst in the class. Isn’t it normal for the teacher to be one of those who were the first in the class? Without a good salary, believe me, most of the teachers will be from among those who in secondary school and primary school did not get any mention or award and were at the bottom of the class and get employed to work as a teacher for three lei. Society must see and fight for the motivation of teachers. Otherwise, the good ones, from among heads of generations, will not come and this is sad. I don’t not even see how someone who didn’t really like school when they were at school can be a teacher,” said Viorel Dolha.

According to him, in the Republic of Moldova, the positions of teacher are unoccupied and there is a crisis here, but in Romania, to become a teacher you need to go through a competition. In Romania, there are always more teachers ready to enter the system and the best ones thus gain access to the system as a result of competition.

Viorel Dolha also said that in education, there can always be better because new things always appear. For this reason, it is necessary for teachers to study, to exchange good practices.

The public debate entitled “Educational bridges between Romania and the Republic of Moldova” was the 15th installment of the project “Double integration through cooperation and information. Continuity”, funded by the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova. The content of this debate does not represent the official position of the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova.