Mihai Dimian returns after the moment with the phone while a student was talking in tears. “I will donate the minister's salary”
After being criticized for looking on the phone during a student's speech about school pressure, the interim Minister of Education, Mihai Dimian, insisted that “it was about emergencies that, at that moment, could not be postponed” and announced that he would work without pay for the remaining days of this mandate.
The episode that drew criticism from the Minister of Education took place on Tuesday at a debate organized by the Education Committee of the Romanian Senate.
Ilinca, a student in the 5th grade, spoke through tears about the pressures she feels from the school, parents and teachers. After the girl's speech, Mihai Dimian was caught with his eyes on the screen of his mobile phone and did not intervene in her speech.
In his first explanations, Dimian said that the day had been extremely busy.
The minister returned with new clarifications, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, on his Facebook page, regarding his gesture from the debate.
“The event was not a dialogue with the Minister of Education”
“I remember a day when I woke up at 2 a.m. in order to be able to work on emergencies related to the PNRR and thus make room in the agenda for the various events to which I had been invited (…) I returned home after 9 p.m. and saw a certain excerpt from one of the events that generated several negative reactions to me,” wrote Mihai Dimian, on his Facebook page.
The minister also said that his presence at the said event had initially been announced “just to send a message to the participants, for objective reasons”.
Dimian also claimed to have spoken with several students before the event began.
“This event was not a dialogue with the minister of education, but a round table with more than 100 participants, specialists in various fields and students. The fact that I stayed at the event longer than my schedule allowed was precisely due to the desire to listen to as many of the opinions of specialists and students as possible. As for the fact that I answered some messages on the phone, it was about emergencies that, at that time, could not be postponed,” he also said Mihai Dimian.
“I'm sorry if I offended anyone”
Mihai Dimian also said that the student did not address him in particular, and apologized if she offended anyone.
“I'm sorry if I offended anyone, but I invite you to watch the whole event, not just that extract, to draw conclusions, in the given context. You can watch the interventions of other students, you can talk to participants to form an opinion about what happened at this event, you can respond to Ilinca's message that was addressed to everyone (“you”, teachers, parents) not just to me, in particular”, said Mihai Dimian.
The minister also announced that he will donate his salary to the “St. Hierarch Leontie” children's settlement.
“As for me, I hope you will forgive me if you consider that I have made a mistake and I will work without pay in the remaining days of this interim mandate, donating the minister's salary to the Children's Home “St. Hierarch Leontie”, stated Mihai Dimian.
The speech of Ilinca, the 5th grade student, can be watched below, starting at minute 01:38:50.
