The Minister of Education sends 3 very important announcements, last minute, for all pupils and students in Romania, and this is because he wants to bring to everyone's attention at this time, first of all, a wish for the National Youth Day, talking about how the Education Laws will bring many innovations for young people.
The Minister of Education, Ligia Deca, also talks about the sanctions introduced for the purchase of doctoral, bachelor's or master's theses, and the easier discovery of those who do this, finally being confirmed including the adoption of a project for Romania's participation in PISA 2025, a set of very important exams.
"Young people are our chance, for all of us, for a better future. On National Youth Day, we have an extra reason to show them our gratitude and congratulate them for all their achievements, both in education and in their personal lives. And for all these and many more to come, we, the Ministry of Education, guarantee our support. Through #EduLaws, we place the highest value on giving young people in the education system the best possible start in life.
Consistent sanctions were introduced in the committee discussion. We want to discourage the phenomenon of both offering and buying such works. It is absolutely necessary that the integrity of all types of finalization, bachelor's, master's, doctorate works is ensured and that is why the sanctions are dissuasive for any attempts of this type.
Moreover, I believe that technological progress will help us to discover such attempts much more effectively. They are known in the academic world. In many cases there are also announcements or flyers that are distributed in academic communities. It is, I think, quite easy, in a first phase, for those ethics commissions at the university level to report themselves and raise this issue.
We also have provisions that clarify exactly what is the risk to which they are subject. I think it is good to publicize these things, because Romanian higher education cannot produce performance, cannot respond to society's needs, if it does not respect ethics and integrity norms.
In March of this year, the draft Government decision was approved for Romania's participation in PISA 2025. And for this testing cycle, whose focus area is the sciences, 2025 is the year in which the main testing is carried out. Romania also opted for the information and communication technology questionnaire for students, the questionnaire for parents, the foreign language assessment - English - and the questionnaire for English language teachers."
