First day of school in Romania
Romania marks the first day of school on September 10. The event includes renewed changes as well as old problems still unsolved: many schools are still waiting for refurbishment while others lack their sanitation or fire permits. And more, many textbooks include mistakes while the number of students further declines. The new school year has two semesters and four holidays: the winter holiday including Christmas and the New Year’s Eve, a so-called intersemestrial holiday, a spring holiday and the summer holiday starting on June 15. The Romanian educational system is also facing challenges such as student underachievement and low state expenditure.
It is compulsory for all children in Romania to attend school from the age of five and before they reach school-going age, many children attend kindergarten at the age of three or four. A national evaluation is scheduled between June 18 – 29.
Among other things, students in the sixth grade are still waiting for a geography textbook as a brand new one had to be reprinted due to mistakes. Errors were also found in biology and history textbooks. In the country’s public education system less than a quarter of shool buildings are authorised though a similar situation is also affecting some private schools, according to official data.
Romania’s president expected to attend school year festivities in Alba Iulia
Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis is expected to attend school year festivities in the Transylvanian city of Alba Iulia on Monday. Festivities are scheduled at the Horia, Cloşca and Crişan National College which is also expected to celebrate its 100th anniversary next year. The college in Alba Iulia is the first Romanian college ever established in Transylvania after December 1, 1918. Romania’s National Day (Ziua Națională), or Great Union Day (Ziua Marii Uniri), is an annual public holiday on December 1 to celebrate the unification of Romanian provinces. Romania’s full independence had been recognized in 1878 but it was not until December 1, 1918 in the city of Alba Iulia, when Romania – made of Moldova and Wallachia at the time – was united with Transylvania, Crişana, Banat and the Maramureş area. National Day has been celebrated in Romania since 1990, after the fall of the country’s Communist regime.
New outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in Romania
Reports are emerging of a new outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in Romania’s southern county of Giurgiu. The outbreak was first discovered in the village of Brăniştari though it could also affect the neighbouring community of Mihai Bravu. With a continuous stream of ASF cases being identified in Europe in 2017 and early 2018, biosecurity measures have been heightened but outbreaks continue to occur. The virus does not cause harm to humans or other animals, however, this does not mean that humans and other animals cannot spread the virus as carriers; ASF is commonly carried by arthropods, such as the soft-bodied tick, through uptake of blood from infected pigs. A fire on Monday killed some 10,000 pigs at a farm in Tichileşti, a village in Romania’s eastern county of Brăila already affected by ASF last month.
Romania’s Festival of Centennial Nations’ Capitals
Romania’s capital Bucharest will host a Festival of Centennial Nations’ Capitals between September 10 – 17. Financed by the Bucharest City Hall, the event is also sponsored by FORD Neste Automotive, Philips Lighting – Signify, Domeniile Sâmburești, Aqua Carpatica, Stalinskaya, Angst, Șerban & Asociații, Pow Wow, Jos Pălăria pub, Distrikt 42. Events on Monday include the opening of the collective exhibition Confluențe 100/ Confluences 100 at the Exhibitions Grand Hall on Calea Griviţei 64-66. The Perpessicius Hall of the National Museum of Romanian Literature (NMRL) will host the release of Counterfeiters, a film by Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky (2007). The NMRL Garden will host a recital by Mircea Dinescu, a Romanian poet well-known for his fight against Communism before the 1989 Revolution. The “Radu Beligan” Hall of the Comedy Theatre in Bucharest will present Teatr Wierszalin, a Polish theatre ensemble, with „Dziady – Noc Pierwsza” by Adam Mikiewicz while Krzystof Zanussi’s 1969 famous film „Crystal Structure” will close the movie night at the NMRL.
Alexandru Danga
