Policy note : educația în timpul pandemiei : răspunsuri la criza nesfârșită a sistemului educațional românesc

Abstract

The public policy analysis and the recommendations that we propose for public debate are based on the expression of a personal concern regarding the situation of the education system in Romania, in the current context of measures to prevent the spread of SARS - CoV - 2. The absence of a serious debate in the public space on the short-term (until the end of the school year), medium-term (school year 2020 - 2021) and long-term (2021 - 2027) plans, more than a month after the closure of schools, is a serious cause for concern. The recent events are exceptional and have affected all countries equally, so Romania's situation is not unique. From the perspective of public policy analysis, we have access to various sources of information: statistical data, comparative analysis and even the presentation of examples of good practice. Our approach has two stages: an analysis of the state of play, of the conditions under which future public policies in the field of education are to be implemented, followed by a list of proposals and recommendations based on the findings of the analysis. It is obvious that in this school year, but certainly also in the one to come, the education system is and will be affected by the evolution of the SARS - CoV - 2 epidemic. The reopening of schools and the resumption of normal activities are, according to the scenarios and data available at the moment at national and international level2 , an unrealistic expectation. In the absence of an effective vaccine, it is obvious that no social crowding and social interaction will be possible without the official assumption of a risk of increased infection. The reopening of schools, subject to the imposition of public health measures as well as social distancing measures, is a more realistic premise in the medium term. The analysis we have made and the proposals we are formulating cover at least three different but, we argue, strongly interconnected areas. The first is the field of public health, here we are looking at the hygienic and sanitary conditions existing in educational establishments throughout Romania. The second area considered is that of education, more specifically the interactions between teachers and pupils with the aim of transferring knowledge but also to assess the skills acquired by pupils. The third domain is the social domain, more specifically the social services that the school, as an organization, as well as other organizational actors provide to the community in which it operates.