Education in Romania

A typical general school (grades 0-8) in Bucharest
Gheorghe Lazăr National College, a high school (grades 9-12) in Bucharest
University of Bucharest

Education in Romania is based on a free-tuition, egalitarian system. Access to free education is guaranteed by Article 32 in the Constitution of Romania.[1] Education is regulated and enforced by the Ministry of National Education.[2] Each step has its own form of organization and is subject to different laws and directives. Since the downfall of the communist regime, the Romanian educational system has gone through several reforms.

Kindergarten is optional under the age of five. Compulsory schooling usually starts at age 4, with the second year of kindergarten (grupa mijlocie), which is mandatory in order to enter primary school. Schooling is compulsory until the twelfth grade (which corresponds with the age of eighteen or nineteen). The school educational cycle ends in the twelfth grade, when students graduate the baccalaureate. Higher education is aligned onto the European Higher Education Area. In addition to the formal system of education, to which was recently added the equivalent private system, there is also a system of tutoring, semi-legal and informal.

Romania ranks 6th in the all-time medal count at the International Mathematical Olympiad with 316 total medals, dating back to 1959. Ciprian Manolescu managed to write a perfect paper (42 points) for gold medal more times than anybody else in the history of the competition, doing it all three times he participated in the IMO (1995, 1996, 1997).[3] Romania has achieved the highest team score in the competition, after China and Russia, and right after the United States and Hungary. Romania also ranks 6th in the all-time medal count at the International Olympiad in Informatics with 107 total medals, dating back to 1989.[4][5][6]

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI)[7] finds that Romania is fulfilling only 65.1% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education based on the country's level of income.[8] HRMI breaks down the right to education by looking at the rights to both primary education and secondary education. While taking into consideration Romania's income level, the nation is achieving 48.5% of what should be possible based on its resources (income) for primary education and 81.6% for secondary education.[8]

  1. ^ "Art. 32 – Dreptul la învățătură". Constituția României.
  2. ^ "Misiune". edu.ro. Archived from the original on 8 February 2016.
  3. ^ "IMO team record". Archived from the original on 20 February 2008. Retrieved 5 March 2008.
  4. ^ "Romania's brains rank first in Europe, 10th in the world after Math Olympiad" (in Romanian). romania-insider.com. 16 July 2012. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012.
  5. ^ "Romanian students win four medals, two gold, at the European Girls Mathematical Olympiad". business-review.eu. 16 April 2014. Archived from the original on 9 April 2015.
  6. ^ "Romanian students win 32 medals at SEEMOUS International Mathematical Olympiad". AGERPRES. 11 March 2014. Archived from the original on 8 April 2015.
  7. ^ "Human Rights Measurement Initiative – The first global initiative to track the human rights performance of countries". humanrightsmeasurement.org. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  8. ^ a b "Romania - HRMI Rights Tracker". rightstracker.org. Retrieved 26 March 2022.