President Klaus Iohannis starts consultations on Educated Romania project

President Klaus Iohannis started today a series of consultations with the political milieu and the social partners on his signature project Educated Romania, following the conclusion of the public debate thereon. The head of the state met today at the Cotroceni Palace with Prime Minister Florin Citu, Education Minister Sorin Cimpeanu, and the leaders of the ruling coalition - Chairman of the National Liberal Party Ludovic Orban, USR PLUS Co-Chairs Dan Barna and Dacian Ciolos, and Chairman of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania Kelemen Hunor. Presidential advisor Ligia Deca also participates in the talks. The Presidential Administration announced last week that the main areas of reform and the lines of action proposed by the Educated Romania project will be presented during the discussions, in order to achieve a social and political consensus that should guarantee its implementation and cross-party commitment. The Educated Romania project was initiated by President Klaus Iohannis and covers seven areas identified as priorities: "Teaching career", "Equity of the educational system", "Professionalization of educational management", "Quality vocational and technical education", "Autonomy, quality and internationalization in higher education", "Early education accessible to all" and "Pupil and student assessment". The seven technical reports propose concrete short-, medium- and long-term objectives and measures, reviewing also the current situation in the system. Among the targets proposed for 2030 are: the inclusion of at least 30 percent of children aged 0 to 3 in pre-school education; the inclusion of a minimum 95 percent of children aged 3-5 in pre-school education; Romania's landing a spot among the world's top 30 countries in the PISA performance rankings; a minimum 80 percent passing rate for the secondary education final test; a 75 percent Baccalaureate passing rate of the total community; organizing targeted policies to reduce the number of educational institutions with passing rates lower than 50 percent. On Tuesday President Iohannis will hold consultations with the Parliament leadership and members of the two Chambers' Education Committees, and on Wednesday he will sit down with social dialogue partners in the education sector and with representatives of the non-governmental organizations involved in the Educated Romania project. AGERPRES (RO - author: Andreea Rotaru, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Simona Iacob)