The Foundation For The Defense Of Citizens Against State Abuses (FACIAS) calls for the resignation of Minister Monica Anisie, for the disastrous situation of the education system and for the failure to provide laptops or tablets to students who have to learn online.
As a result of the regulation of pre-university education based on three scenarios, we find ourselves in a situation where many students have to conduct their courses only online or in mixed format.
According to information published by the Ministry of Education, there are 4,406 educational units operating under the yellow scenario and 305 units under the red scenario.
Thus, there are more than 100,000 pupils who are in the red scenario, being obliged to conduct classes only in online format, for these pupils the right to equal opportunities in education is violated, due to the fact that the Ministry of Education does not provide all pupils with the necessary equipment (tablets, laptops, internet access).
Although they had more than 3 months to purchase the tablets, out of the 250,000 tablets initially promised, only 80,000 tablets were purchased, Monica Anisei blaming, this time again, the way ONAC managed the situation.
Even now, more than a week into the new school year, schools have not received the necessary equipment.
According to Law 109/220, the Ministry of Education is obliged to provide pupils and teachers with the necessary devices for online learning and access to the internet.
Taking into account that from the beginning of the school year until now, the number of educational units in the red scenario has steadily increased, the need among pupils and teachers for e-learning devices is still growing. The Ministry of Education has so far failed to equip educational establishments with the necessary infrastructure, distribute tablets to all pupils and provide internet access. All this leads to a serious violation of the fundamental right to education.
If urgent action is not taken and the upward trajectory of educational units following the red scenario continues, we will face the worst case scenario, where all classes will be conducted online.
It is clear that the Minister of Education is overwhelmed by the current situation, despite having had several months to come up with an effective plan, she has been unable to guarantee access to education for the 100,000 children who started school in the red scenario. Under these circumstances, what expectations could we have if hundreds of thousands more children have to take their classes online?
Minister Monica Anisie's inability to find viable solutions to the most acute problems of education calls for her resignation.
FACIAS has launched the "Decalogue of Education Disasters" campaign, outlining ten reasons why Minister Anisie should resign.
So far, the reasons given by FACIAS have been the failure to solve the problem of school transport for pupils, the lack of physical or electronic textbooks, the mismanagement of subordinate staff - secretaries of state of the Ministry of Education left for the election campaign just as the school year was starting, the lack of digital skills of teachers when online schooling has become a reality, and the insufficient number of medical staff in schools.