The Minister of Education confirmed a very important official change that will be imposed for millions of students from all over Romania, schools all over the country having imposed this measure so that young people can benefit from psycho-pedagogical counseling in educational units.
The Minister of Education is talking about this measure in tandem with one that aims to increase the number of medical personnel in schools throughout the country, this in the conditions that this is completely lacking in some educational units in our country, unfortunately for us.
"Medical offices have proven their importance in this period of health crisis more than ever. Theoretically, formally, there are medical offices in 20% of Romanian schools. Practically, considering the alternation of personnel, the availability of medical personnel, things are even worse. The school medicine network must be completely redesigned.
It is an extremely important project, and this health crisis has sensitized us, I think, to all of us who are decision-makers, regarding the importance of the school medicine network. There is a chance of investments through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan in the school infrastructure.
Medical personnel and equipment are also needed, but infrastructure is also needed. This will have to be clarified, legislated, as quickly as possible, in parallel with the growing need for psycho-pedagogical counseling done in an efficient way, and an efficient way cannot be other than the one through which we have a sufficient number of counselors with double competence, school orientation, psycho-pedagogical assistance.
I sized for schools with up to 500 students, there can be only 200, to have one counselor, for over 1000 two counselors, for over 2000 three counselors, and for these counselors to stay in the school to get to know the students, to get to know the school environment, to know the children's problems, to know them in the last resort and the families, because many times some problems come from there.
We see an amplification, an unprecedented multiplication of socio-emotional disorders and other ailments. The number of suicide attempts is dramatic, some of them materialized among children and adolescents. This is one of the serious consequences of this period that we are still going through, and which requires, in addition to school medicine, counseling with double competence.
