Daniel David, Minister of Education and Research. Photo: Inquam Photos / Octav Ganea
The Minister of Education has announced that the “other week” of the 2025-2026 school year will include two mandatory topics: violence and consumption of prohibited substances. Although there are many activities on these topics every year, they are not always coherently organized, says Daniel David.
“Teachers, students and parents need to be prepared by specialists in order to identify such phenomena. It is also important for them to know and practice intervention procedures-even in simulations-so as to know how to apply them in real life,” the minister said on Thursday, in a press conference.
Daniel David explained that these measures come in the context in which, although there are numerous activities on these topics every year, they are not always coherently organized.
“The activities dedicated to these topics will be semi-structured, which means that schools will receive clear guidance on their content. We want all these activities to follow a better structured framework, not to remain at the latitude of each school unit,” said the Minister of Education.
In the school year 2024-2025, the former Minister of Education, Ligia Deca, announced a similar theme for “School Other”, focused on preventing drug use, alcohol and tobacco, but also on reducing violence and road education.
Despite the ambitious goals, teachers signal difficulties in implementing the two programs “School otherwise” and “Green Week”. Raluca Răducanu, deputy director of the “Jean Monnet” Theoretical High School, says that these initiatives “does not work at the gymnasium and high school”, and Marius Lobază, a teacher at the Banat National College in Timisoara, claims that “the school year is completely destroyed” by the frequency of these weeks and the overlap, as well as the other activities.
Also, Daniel David announced on Thursday that the order on the “red button” by which the cases of violence and drug use in schools will be reported on the approval circuit. “After the internal stages pass, you will see it. The general idea is this one I have already announced: we can announce this through an anonymous version, which I think will help prevent and control this phenomenon in schools.”
Rareș Ion case, symbol of the failure of prevention policies among young people
The announcement of the Minister of Education comes in the context of an increasing public concern about drug use among young people.
The case of Rareș Ion, the young man who died from an overdose after being filmed live on Tiktok, consuming substances, brought to attention the lack of effective prevention policies.
As the Romanian young people die on Tiktok. Rareș's case, the 20 -year -old boy who took live drugs, instigated by Maru, the dealer convicted in Vlad Pascu's file
Doctor Costin Militaru, who has been working with addicts for 20 years, says that interventions are often emotional or punitive, and the access of young people to real support is extremely limited.
“The alarmist messages do not help if there are no solutions. We have a single treatment center for minors throughout the country,” he warns.
When the “School Other” and “Green Week” are held
In the school year 2025-2026, the two national programs “School otherwise” and “Green Week” will take place between September 8, 2025-April 3, 2026. Each lasts 5 working days, planned by schools in different modules.
For students from the technological, professional and post -secondary chain, during these periods, practical training activities will be organized.
