Training
As in other countries in the Eastern bloc, the education
system in Romania after 1945 came to emulate the Soviet. The
1989 revolution meant significant changes. The pragmatic,
"production-oriented" goals had to give way to general
education and humanities. The curricula were replaced and a
new teacher training was introduced.
The school system is currently divided into preschool,
primary school (primary school), middle school and upper
secondary school (or equivalent), post-secondary education
and higher education. The primary school comprises preschool
class and four years of schooling. Subsequently, middle
school follows five years and high school for three to four
years. The length of upper secondary education varies
depending on the program you choose. Grades 1-9 are
compulsory. Instead of applying to high school, Romanian
youth can choose a vocational education of three to four
years. The young people can then choose to apply for
post-secondary education or to apply directly for higher
education. Some subjects or university programs require
post-secondary education for admission. See TOPSCHOOLSINTHEUSA for TOEFL, ACT, SAT testing locations and high school codes in Romania.
After independence, more and more people began to study
further in higher education. About 618,000 were enrolled in
some form in higher education in 2015. 54 percent of the
students were women and 46 percent were men. Romania has
joined the Bologna system for higher education in Europe.
This means that university education comprises three phases:
undergraduate, master's and postgraduate programs. To obtain
a basic degree in higher education requires three years of
study.
Romania has the second highest percentage of Roma in
Europe. The government has introduced some improvements to
facilitate the schooling of the Roma as these have been
largely excluded from the school system. However, the
efforts are substandard in relation to the efforts that
would be needed to get more Roma to study. Romania has been
granted EU funding to improve the situation but has not
withdrawn the entire grant granted.
In October 2011, the returned King Michael spoke to
Parliament. For the first time since he was forced to
abdicate in 1947. However, his dream of returning to the
country as king was not feasible.
In January-February 2012, comprehensive demonstrations
were conducted against the corruption in the country and the
government's cutbacks policy. The protests ended with Prime
Minister Emil Boc resigning. He was replaced at the post by
the head of the country's foreign intelligence service
Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu. In May, the intelligence chief loses
a vote of confidence and is replaced by Victor Ponta of the
Social Liberal Union. Ponta is also launching a campaign to
get rid of his main political opponent, President Băsescu.
In July, Parliament decided to sue the president of a
state court, accused of having secret telephone
interceptions carried out by his political opponents,
putting intelligence against political opponents and putting
pressure on the prosecution in criminal cases. The president
was immediately dismissed, but at the same time a referendum
was to be held on his dismissal. Băsescu stated that he was
talking about a coup d'état and called for a boycott of the
referendum. The vote took place in late July and 88.7% were
to remove the unpopular president. But the voting percentage
was only 46.4% and therefore below the required 50%. The
Constitutional Court, therefore, canceled the vote and
re-elected the president in August.
Ponta's Social Liberal Union of 4 parties won an
overwhelming victory in the December 2012 parliamentary
elections, gaining 60.1% of the vote and 69.3% of the seats
in parliament. President Băsescu's party had to be reduced
to less than 10%. Ponta's popularity was attributed to
leading a gentler crisis policy than the ousted Conservative
government.
In October 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Liviu Dragnea was
accused of trying to scam the referendum in July 2012.
Dragnea dismissed the charges. 74 others were accused of
having changed their voting numbers to run for president.
The Ponta government raised the salaries of public
servants. A reaction to the fact that President Băsescu and
his political allies in 2010 had reduced public wages by
25%. Furthermore, Ponta raised a number of taxes. In
February 2014, the liberal PNL resigned from the government
after Ponta refused to appoint Klaus Iohannis as Deputy
Prime Minister. A few months later, both announced that they
were running for president.
The November 2014 presidential election was surprisingly
won by Liberal Klaus Iohannis in the second round with 54.4%
of the vote against 45.6% for incumbent Prime Minister and
Social Democrat Victor Ponta. Ponta had gained 40.4% in the
first round while Iohannis had only 30.4%. All polls tipped
Ponta as the winner of the second round. When things went
different, it was probably due to a fierce campaign by the
right and the US, as well as widespread problems with the
conduct of elections abroad. Voting at embassies and
consulates abroad took place on the same day as the
elections in Romania, and there was no capacity to handle
the many voters, with the result that many thousands could
not vote at all. It triggered demonstrations both abroad and
in Romania. The US wanted a right-wing president in the
country, and as early as October, video Foreign Minister
Victoria Nuland interfered in the election when she declared
that a "cancer of democratic decline and corruption" was
affecting the Central and South-Eastern European states with
no reference to Romania. Iohannis therefore made corruption
his main topic. At the same time, outgoing President Băsescu
accused Ponta of being a spy.
At his inauguration as president, newly elected Klaus
Iohannis declared that he would be president of all
Romanians. Shortly thereafter, however, he urged the Ponta
government to step down. Ponta denied it, citing that there
would only be parliamentary elections in 2016. The country
president then declared that he intended to remove the
government in a 2015 vote of no confidence.
In December, the UN Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Committee sharply criticized Romania for its widespread
discrimination against the Roma population, which was denied
access to decent housing, education, health care and work.
Rather than improving the situation of the Roma, the
authorities frequently remove the settlements the Roma
establish.
In December, Iohannis declared himself in favor of
incorporating Moldova into Romania.
In December 2014, the United States Congress published a
600-page summary of a clandestine report on the CIA's
torture program since 2001, which Romania had also taken an
active part residents However, following the publication of
the summary, former Romanian intelligence chief (1992-97)
and security adviser to the then President Ion Iliescu
(2002-04), Ioan Talpes stepped forward and reported to
Der Spiegel that the country actually operated one or
two torture centers for the CIA during the period 2003-06.
He further stated that he had informed President Iliescu
that the CIA was "involved in certain activities" in the
country, but he also claimed to have had no detailed
knowledge of what was happening in the centers. Talpes
stated that Romania had been "actively disinterested" in
what the CIA was doing in the country as it was interested
in a close and uncritical relationship with the superpower
to gain entry into NATO. Following Talpes's disclosures,
Prime Minister Ponta stated that he had no knowledge of the
torture center that had the CIA code "Detention Center
Black" but that the country would be completely "open" to an
investigation. Several cases have already been brought
before the European Court of Human Rights by victims of the
torture program against Romania. Romanian openness was
welcomed by the outside world. So far, the country had
denied any knowledge, and had even conducted its own Senate
poll in 2007 that had acquitted the country. From the
published CIA information, it appeared that the CIA had paid
several million. US $ in gratitude to the Romanian
authorities for making the centers available. After Dana
Priest published its articles on CIA torture centers in
Europe in November 2005 - including in Romania - the
Romanian authorities had got cold feet and demanded that
they be closed to the CIA, which happened the following
year. However, it did not exempt the country from violating
the Torture Convention.
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