“We have not destroyed the state budget and we do not have to be the first punished” / “I and my colleagues have made free meditations, from the soul to take the BAC” / How, for teachers, the beginning of the school year

“The children have no guilt, and we worked a life for them and we do not deserve to be treated like this,” says a teacher who has been teaching 46 years. He is 69 years old, but he is still active, because, he says, he cares about the “generations that come”. Beside him, a teacher from Craiova talks about “the reality that the government does not see”: “Last year, we collected money in the class to take a pair of sneakers for a child coming in winter.” The two teachers went out to protest on the street, along with several dozen teachers dissatisfied with the changes made by the Government in education, to reduce the state's expenses.

Teachers – who protest for more than a month – announced that on September 8, on the first day of school, they will boycott the festivities. “The students will be received, but no official openings will be held,” says a mathematics teacher from Titu. Along with him, a teacher from Bucharest, another from Craiova and a teacher from Slănic tell why Monday, September 8, on the first day of the school year, will go to the meeting and the march scheduled on the route Victoriei – Cotroceni Palace.

“Education is not to be negotiated” and “Down the Bolojan Government!” The teachers who protested on Wednesdays and Thursdays in front of the Government shouted, where they say they will go on Friday. They all demand the effects of the austerity measures introduced by law: increasing the didactic norm, reducing by over 50% of the hourly payment, combining the educational units, increasing the number of students in the classroom and the risk of eliminating the degree.

In Victoriei Square, we discussed four of the teachers who went out. Each has its own story about how to see the school inside and why they decided to boycott the beginning of the school year.

“You work a whole life to take your grades, and now, all of a sudden, everything is deleted.”

Professor Cristian Marinescu teaches musical and artistic education at the “Șerban Voda” High School in Slănic. He is 69 years old, but he is still active, because, he says, health allows him and because he “cares about generations that come.”

“At Boicot, yes, I will participate. At the protest march in Bucharest, because we, the provincial, from Slănic, organized there. I am here with a colleague, we represent the other teachers in our high school. Many are afraid, although they would not have.

For him, the main problem is the “lack of respect” for the work done by the teachers, as it explains: “You work a whole life to take your grades, to switch to other categories of seniority, and now, all of a sudden, it is not necessarily that I have 20 hours instead of 16, I have no children. of teaching, I put above the “school of life”.

“Have hit in education“

After 46 years in education, he declares himself revolted that the decisions are made without consulting the people in the system. “We protested in the past, when the title was to be removed, now we see the same mistakes: measures are taken without consulting the people in the system. The inspectorates, the ministry, no one called us to see what solutions exist. Instead of reducing expenses from other areas, they hit the education. Many of them agree with the protest, but they cannot express themselves. “

On the first day of school, “there will be massive participation in Boicot,” believes the teacher. “The program will be very short, without festivals. The students will be received, but no festivities will be held. The parents understand and support us.”

“The children have no guilt. We worked a life for them and we do not deserve to be treated like this”

The teacher believes that the measures have been taken in a hurry, without consulting the people in the system, and the result is a chaos that directly affects the school and the society:

“It is unhappy that the specialists were not asked before taking these measures. It is a bargain. There have been reductions, taxes have been increased, but no real solutions were sought. Probably the population is desired, so that people have no power to protest. so. “

“The reality that the government does not know”

Carmen Marcu (58 years old) teaches at the “George Bibescu” Technological High School in Craiova and has 34 years of experience at the chair. He comes from a family of teachers, the mother being a teacher, and the teacher teacher and school principal. Over time, he has prepared students for practical internships abroad and says he received greeting letters from companies where they have come to work.

“I am a teacher since 1990. I entered with 18 hours of teaching and 34 weeks of school, and now I have 20 hours and 37 weeks, because this is the structure at the technological high schools. I come from a family of teachers-the teacher, the teacher and school director. For over 20 years, my children are going to France, Spain, Italy.

In all these years, she was also a leader, which allowed him to see how children live. “I am a leader from the beginning of the career and I know exactly the social evolution of the children. Unfortunately, now it is disastrous. I have 15 students with social scholarships, money with which they paid their home and canteen. Last year, I raised money in the classroom to take a pair of sneakers for a child who came in winter.”

The problems, says the teacher, are deepened by the lack of resources for students with special educational requirements: “We have children with special educational requirements that we cannot help, because there are not enough psycho-pedagogues or traveling teachers. I get to be literacy with students of the 9th grade. In addition, the classes are too crowded: students?

“I and my colleagues have made free meditations, from the soul to take the BAC”

Carmen Marcu says that teachers' work cannot be questioned. “I worked a life for these children, I also received congratulations from France, and from Spain for their seriousness. And yet, the minister misinforms, says that our teaching norm has dropped or that teachers are living in meditations. It is false.

Her message is firm: “We have not destroyed the state budget and we do not have to be the first punishment. After 34 years of work, it is not normal to stay with the sword above the head, without knowing if we keep our jobs. On September 8 I will participate in the boycott. And my colleagues will participate.

My message for the Minister of Education and for Prime Minister Bolojan is clear: “to resign”: “Romania needs serious, technocrats, who will think in the long term. Romania was not born poor, but it is destroyed by cuts, taxes and lack of vision. Education is not negotiated.

“Never started school in this form”

Sorin Ghițulescu has been teaching mathematics at Titu for over four decades, more precisely than 43 years. At the age of 65, although he approaches the pension, he says he does not want to withdraw: “the connection with the school, with the realities there, especially with the children, matters enormously for me.”

For him, the most serious problem is the way the measures were imposed. “What bothers me? All the measures taken. Because we have not been consulted with absolutely any of them. If there were a consultation with the teachers, with the parents, with the students, otherwise things would have been. I do not understand why we came to be considered the ones who devalued Romania. Based on the so-called” economies “we are told that two billions were paid”.

The teacher says he will be on the street on September 8, at the major protest announced in Victoriei Square: “What we do now is just a picketing, we are few, but then we estimate that we will be 30,000. And I hope they are with us and the parents, and the students. There were protests – yes, but they were targeting the national exams.

“The state should have defended us, not hit us”

About the general situation of education, Ghițulescu speaks pressed: “How do I see the education system, after so many years? Unfortunately, I cannot say that it goes to normal. As long as education remains financially undervalued – and not only – we have no way to perform. 2, 3, 4, at 5, 6 or 7. That matters even more.

We should not be the first sacrifices. The state should have defended us, not hit us. Unfortunately, the way in which these decisions have been made shows that the Minister of Education is not the right man to lead. That's why we ask for the resignation. “

“I can no longer”

Ramona (45 years old) teaches French at a high school in the Capital and has 23 years of experience in the chair. He says he loves the job, which he has wanted since childhood, but that the situation now forces her to go out. She is a single mother and has a boy who has just entered the 11th grade.

“I went out because I am dissatisfied with everything that happens. I lose a lot in the salary, the time, and, as a single mother, I cannot maintain myself neither my child. This year he had to take a scholarship and no longer. For us there was a help. In the automatic, I support it as much as I can, but in these conditions I do not want to make a good career, it is a good and devoted child to the study, and I want to help.

For the teacher, decreased income means especially that he can no longer support his son on his academic path, as he tells.

The disappointment is all the greater as the teacher feels that she has followed her vocation. “I have been teaching for 23 years. It is the job that I wanted from childhood, I aligned my dolls and” teaching “them. I do this with dedication, but now I am very disappointed. “

For September 8, he says the plan is clear: he will be in school only to receive his students, after which he will go to Victoriei Square: “If the students, and the parents will want to be with us, it is even better, we are waiting for this.”

For the Minister of Education, Daniel David, her message is simple: “I would convey to her to think. Education is not to be negotiated. A responsible and prosperous people can only be saved by education. They should see if no discounts can be made else.”