LocalElections2020/ Information portal for Education, launched by USR PLUS

The USR PLUS [Save Romania Union – Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party] alliance announces the launch of the www.scolipregatite.ro portal, with information and documents on how the education process will take place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a USR PLUS release, the portal was launched in the context in which there are only seven days left until the beginning of the school year, „and parents, children and teachers do not yet know what will happen on September 14.” It uses „data from countless sources that the Ministry of Education does not synchronize and does not use properly,” the quoted source said.

The portal aims to communicate specific information differently on each target group: pupils, parents, teachers and school principals. For pupils, for example, the rules they need to follow in order to protect themselves and others, are presented „in an accessible format” including in the form of a game. For teachers, in addition to the measures needed to be taken to protect their own health and that of the pupils in the classroom, information is provided on the possibility of testing for free, until September 14.

„For each targeted category, the portal contains individual guides that are easy to follow and distribute. It also includes recommendations for school inspectorates, respectively local authorities, and examples of good international practice. Last but not least, the portal offers the possibility to report fast the problems seen in schools,” reads the release.

The Chairman of PLUS Bucharest, Vlad Voiculescu, emphasized that in a crisis situation the speed of reaction and the capacity for coordination are very important, but that in Romania, „almost everywhere in the country”, the institutions are „weak and politicized”.

Stefan Palarie, coordinator of Public Policies in Education within PLUS, pointed out that the website contains, „especially for busy parents”, a guide that can be printed on a single sheet of paper.

Clotilde Armand, the candidate supported by USR PLUS and PNL [National Liberal Party] for the City Hall of Sector 1, appreciated that „the schools in the richest sector of Bucharest do not guarantee” the safety conditions.

Simona Spataru, the candidate supported by USR PLUS and PNL for the City Hall of Sector 4, asked the sector mayor’s office to ensure the necessary conditions so that pupils have access to online education as well. AGERPRES (RO – author: Irinela Visan, editor: Florin Marin; EN – author: Bogdan Gabaroi; editor: Adina Panaitescu)