Prime Minister Florin Citu: Our strategic stake is to achieve 21st century education for 21st century Romania

The stake in Education is to achieve, through the "Educated Romania" project, whose implementation will be approved by the Government this week, "the 21st century education for the 21st century Romania", Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Monday at the opening ceremony of the new school year at the "Gheorghe Lazar" National College, the first high school in Bucharest that carries out a pilot program based on these principles, agerpres reports.

"How good it feels to see each other here, today, in person. It's up to us to stay that way all year. I trust that you will do everything in your power to continue with physical attendance this year, for my part you have seen that it is the baseline scenario. Dear students, teachers, I am glad to mark the opening of the 2021-2022 school year here, at the "Gheorghe Lazar" National College in Bucharest. Beyond the students' well-known achievements, (...) your high school is the first in the Capital to assume, starting today, the start of a profound reform. (...) It is extraordinary that you are choosing to implement a pilot program that means a 21st century curriculum model. A pilot program based on the coordinates defined in the 'Educated Romania' project," the prime minister said.

He added that this program means a teaching, learning, assessment process "closer" to the requirements and exigencies of a modern education, "genuinely" focused on the student.

"We need to genuinely focus on developing relevant skills. Through this step we define the beginning of a profound reform in the field of education in our country," Florin Citu stressed.

According to him, the implementation of the pilot program will be monitored by the Ministry of Education, and the models that prove to be successful will be proposed at national level. "What you are doing as of today could, although I am confident they will, help entire generations," the prime minister said.

He mentioned that, in the coming years, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan provides for the financing of the pilot project in 60 schools.

"I am very interested in reforming education and I know that we will succeed through the 'Educated Romania' project. Precisely because we should not waste time, this week we will adopt and implement the program. 'Educated Romania' is the largest education reform project initiated and developed by the Presidential Administration, a project that represents the vision, the country strategy in the field of education in view of 2030," said Citu.

The reforms envisaged in the field of Education have multiple funding sources - the PNRR, the state budget and European funds, the prime minister added.

"Our stake in Education is not to do slightly something else, slightly differently or the same as before, our strategic stake is to do differently, to do something else, namely, 21st century education for the 21st century Romania, that I am sure we all want," Florin Citu maintained.

The prime minister participated, alongside students and the Minister of Education, Sorin Cimpeanu, in a mini-concert of Romanian pop-rock music.