Romanian Education Unionists To Picket Parliament Starting Tuesday Over Education Bill

Hancescu said education unionists will picket the Parliament from Tuesday until Thursday for two weeks.

Unionists said they do not agree with tenure exams being organized at a school level, adding that, if the Education Ministry does not give up this idea, they will resort to full-blown strikes, will freeze the school year and boycott national tests.

Another provision of the draft education law that triggered dissatisfaction among unionists refers to the membership in schools' managing boards. Unionists want school representatives to hold half of the board seats and the remainder be filled by local authorities and parents, while the ministry wants each of the three parties to hold one third of the board seats.

Education committee deputies adopted on April 30, despite unionists' disapproval, an amendment implementing a ten-year compulsory education and including the ninth grade into secondary school.

On April 12, the Government adopted a draft education law which was forwarded to the Parliament for debates with urgency. Education committee deputies began debates on the articles of the law on April 27 and a final vote on the draft education law will be cast on May 7.

Education unionists started protests in March, saying they had not been consulted on the measures included in the draft education law, and staged a one-day full-blown strike on April 22, disgruntled both with the education law and the unitary wage law which triggered salary reductions for education sector employees.

Unionists threatened that, if authorities failed to solve their problems, they would stage a full-blown strike indefinitely at the end of May, which would block the school year.

On the other hand, the National Union of Students in Romania (UNSR) Monday will also start protests in 12 university centers, as the Education Ministry refused to sign the protocol regarding student camps, scholarships and student loans. UNSR also decided to picket the Education Ministry's headquarters for a week.

UNSR leader Ion Poenaru said on March 16, after a meeting with Education Minister Daniel Funeriu, the organization decided to temporarily suspend protests to give the ministry time to sign the protocol.

Poenaru said back then that, if the ministry refused to agree with their demands, protests would be resumed countrywide.

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