EduMin Andronescu announces draft education law up for public debate towards end-January

Minister of Education Ecaterina Andronescu said on Saturday that at the end of January she plans to put up for public debate a draft of the new education law, emphasizing that certain ideas in the report of the Presidency on the 'Educated Romania' project cannot be ignored.

Referring to the 'Educated Romania' program launched by President Klaus Iohannis this week, Andronescu said that "it must be looked into for the transposition of the valuable parts. (...) I will not dwell on considerations on it now, I will do it after I will have carefully gone through it. I could not attend the launch of the program because I was in Brussels with the entire government. I also had a meeting with the Commissioner on education (...) We will talk, I don't want to make any rash move, I want us to have a correct approach to the education system," Andronescu said.

Asked if the report will be included in the new education law, Andronescu said that she wants to launch a blueprint of the law in January.

"There are certain ideas [in the President's report] that cannot be overlooked and that need to be embedded into law, I want to roll out a draft law probably towards the end of January for it to be debated from January to March, and surely I want to discuss with everyone: the parliamentary groups, teaching staff, parents, everyone. Therefore I have already made the start and met yesterday on this subject with the representatives of the parents federation, representatives of the Coalition for Romania's Development, and there is something to collect from everyone. Openness is key to approaching these legislative aspects, but you must take responsibility for what you put on paper and send to Parliament. I had a previous attempt on the subject in 2009, I know the mechanisms," Andronescu said.