Education in Romania.

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There are some important differences between the systems in Romania and the UK – Romanian education is good in many ways, but there’s a cruel twist.

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The schools are arranged as Junior, Middle and High School.  High School could be an academic one, and some of these - such as Hurmuzache in Radauti - are extremely good, others less so.  These all lead to a final Baccalaureate exam, although only about 70% pass.  An alternative are the so-called Professional Schools, which offer a more vocational route.  Alex (Stefanesti) went to one of these.

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However, not everyone qualifies to go to High School.  At the end of Middle School, pupils sit the National Exam (Maths and Romanian language), and most pass.  For those that do not pass however, there are really no prospects at all.  Once upon a time, these kids would have become unskilled agricultural labourers, but with the mechanisation of agriculture, these roles have disappeared.

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The school drop-out rate is alarmingly high, and the figures shown mask enormous regional and sociological variations. 

 

 

 

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This graph shows the school early-dropout rate; the blue line is Romania, and the green line is the EU average (again I haven’t got a comparison for the UK).  2015 was a bad year for some reason, but things have improved a bit since then - although Romania is still well above the EU average.  I have to say, I’m surprised that the EU average is as high as it is.

See the After-School Club article for Ionela’s response to this.