Sfechis Anda

9th grade

100 YEARS OF EDUCATION

2018 is the year when we celebrate 100 years of Romania, 100 years after the unification with
Transylvania and, however, 100 years of education.

The history of Romania would have been a very different one if the courage, the enthusiasm
and the dedication of people who had the power or seized the moment to change its course
hadn’t busted in. In my opinion, the system of education had changed a lot in the last 100 years,
this being influenced, first of all, by those who wanted to make a change.

The Royals and the intellectual people represents the most remarkable personalities, who have
helped to the long-term development of education.

Starting with the contribution of The Royals, it’s important to be remembered Ferdinand of
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the king who was Carol’s nephew. Important reforms, as education
as well, were adopted during his reign, as well as the Constitution of 1923, one of the most
modern of Europe of that time. So, in view of the above, I am fairly certain that he used to be
the type of human that puts the fate of his country in front of hisself and who was always trying
to fight for a better state, to creat a new Romania where the education comes first.

Also, I must say that many smart people, as: Mircea Eliade, Iuliu Hossu, Mihail Sadoveanu and
Constantin Drâmbă, a famous mathematician, have been involved in the development of the
system education.

If I would divide those 100 years in three big periods, the first one would be the period between
the wars, then the communism and, the final one, the democracy.

1.The period between the wars

On the development of education, the period between the wars had difficulties, as the
differences between the system of education from Bukovina, Bessarabia and
Transylvania, where the austrian, the hungarian and the russian influences have imposed
their own values.

However, in this period the Romanian society adopts new rules. In the villages, the teachers
learned the kids and, also, the adults, things about math, reading or speaking, all of
those being based on discipline. So, in my opinion, the system of those times was really
interesting and efficient, the education of peasants being a key-factor.

2) The Communism

Under Communism, the education system became state-controlled and intimately influenced by
the communist revolution in Eastern Europe. Religious and private schools immediately came
under state control. For example, the first constitution of the Romanian People’s Republic had
attempted to abolish confessional general schools and the Educational Reform of 1948
abolished all private schools as well as religious teachings in the curriculum. This new education
 Sfechis Anda
9th grade

law transferred all private schools to state control and all church school property was taken by
the state without compensation. Also, in this period the students started to play sports, as
fotball, handball and athletics and they were required to perform community service.

3)Democracy

This period started since 1989. Today, Romania is a unitary republic with an education system
that is constantly under reform. An important issue of the education system nowadays is the
exam that the students in 8th and in the senior year need to take. The Ministry of Education and
Research administers nation-wide exams that determine where each child will attend high
school. Performance on these exams dictates where each student will be able to attend high
school. Certain private institutions, typically the more prestigious ones, also include their own
attendance criteria on top of the test score requirements. Also, most students take between 12
and 14 classes at once ranging from geography to Romanian literature. Students also take a
minimum of two other languages, along with Romanian. Common languages taught include
English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. High school teachers rotate between classrooms
instead of the students. In most Romanian high schools, it is common that students have all of
their lessons in the same classroom with the same classmates for all four or five years that they
attend. This is intended to create a sense of community among students.

So, in conclusion, Romania went through many changes from the educational point of view but,
however, in 100 years this state has changed a lot and it became a country full of intellectual
people, full of important values.