A teacher's message: “The political class has stolen our hope.” No one believes that anything can be saved anymore, no one wants to be Minister of Education

“The power of influence of pre-university teachers is very small, despite their number. Most of the time, they are not part of the networks of power. They are many and anonymous. They are easy prey for hunters of budgetary resources”, history professor Andrei Avram describes the current situation in education.

The educational system in Romania is going through an unprecedented crisis. The situation is dire, but no one really seems to care. Teacher morale is probably at its lowest level in decades. There have been uncertain situations before, but, at least for a minority, the hope for the better kept them going. None of the ministers in recent years has been able to implement a reform that would bring a visible improvement to the education system. But, at least at the discourse level, we were told that “the educational system is a national priority”.

Today, the situation is different. No one tries to disguise carelessness anymore. The attacks were direct, targeting both teachers and students. It was cut like a tree from a chronically underfunded system. Student scholarships have disappeared, teacher salaries have decreased, and their standards have increased. We have often been told the lie that tuition has increased, but income has remained constant.

In other words, the teachers only they would work harder for the same pay. Not. In reality, teachers are working harder for less and less pay. We must be the first to draw attention to the fact that all this means, in fact, poor quality education.

The problem is not the budget cuts themselves. Some of us really don't need to be reminded that “there's no more money.” We understand this aspect and without beating our face. We know that human history is not one of linear progress, and crises, of various types, are periodic. The big problem lies in the defiant tone and attitude of the rulers. Everything seems like a settling of accounts, not at all an approach that calls for national solidarity.

“The situation in education is precarious”

No one can deny the fact that the situation in education is precarious. Some teachers are poorly trained, and many students have priorities other than education. Added to this is the ever-increasing number of destitute parents. Because society is the result of the educational system. The “budget Cinderella” had no way to offer society anything else.

But there are also exceptions: students who are passionate about knowledge, whose models are different from those delivered by the trends on TikTok, teachers who love their job, who light up the classrooms together with their students, parents who are fighting with all their might to replace the acute lacks of a system that, on the face of it, seems defective from the start. They are the locomotives of the education system, and their fuel has been the hope for the better, the illusion that education will finally receive its due respect. The serious problem is that the political elite is positioning itself against those who still strive to think with their own minds and achieve quality education despite meager resources.

Those who were supposed to represent us did nothing but constantly attack us: both teachers and students. The teachers would be nothing but slackers, and the students spoiled, who had become accustomed to being rewarded for little. Therefore, the governors thought that education must be put to the test: more hours of teaching, payment by the hour almost free of charge, overcrowded classes, young people with prizes obtained in national and international competitions who do not receive scholarships from the state, miming the integration of students with special educational requirements, in reality, gross indifference to their and their families' dramas.

Examples taken out of context are used as ammunition to discredit teachers. Not a word about the payment of teachers in the systems we long for, no reference to the number of support teachers within them or to the care that states offer to young people through programs that are only promised in our election campaign, such as “hot meals”.

Where does this hateful disregard for the education system come from? What is the purpose of these attacks? When you systematically hit teachers and students, you are not “reforming” education, you are ensuring that the system will fail.

“They stole our hope”

The current political class has achieved a feat hard to match: that of stealing our hope. No one believes anymore that something could be saved, that things could go, at some point, for the better. On the contrary, disaster seems inevitable. And the fact that for almost two months no one wants to take over the Education portfolio is clear evidence of the collapse that has been reached, of the destructive policy directed against the present and the future of the country.

This refusal to take charge of what should have been one of the country's main development engines is the direct result of the destructive education policy. The care with which he attacked the education system was bound to have consequences, and this is only the beginning. Teachers' distrust of the ministry that should lead them has reached alarming levels. Moreover, the current interim demonstrates the fact that the decision-makers do not see any exit to the port.

What have pre-university teachers learned from recent experiences? That their positions don't matter. Regardless of the legitimacy of criticism, highlighting injustices, going out into the streets, the counter-reformist mixer could not be stopped. Criticism of the adopted measures was interpreted as closure, inability to adapt to the “spirit of the times”.

In fact, things are much simpler. The power of influence of pre-university teachers is very small, despite their numbers. Most of the time, they are not part of the networks of power. There are many and anonymous. Easy prey for budget resource hunters.

Some will consider the following lines the simple lamentations of a teacher who had no alternative and chose education as the simple safety net. Of one who complains instead of acting. It is a possible key to interpretation, which I do not propose to dismantle.

However, it should not be ignored that, for the “sole” of the pre-university education system, it seems besieged by those who, naturally, should have defended it from the cataclysm. What should have been, in the truest sense of the word, a national priority has become a burden that, if possible, would be abolished altogether.

The opinion article was originally published on the Contributors.ro platform