Authorities scramble to find teachers as school starts in Romania for 3.2 million

Local authorities across Romania have assured parents that hundreds of vacant teaching jobs will be filled as 3.2 million students and pre-schoolers begin the school year today (September 16). In several counties across the country, teaching jobs remained vacant with only days to go until school started. In Vaslui county, with three days before the start of the school year, hundreds of jobs were unoccupied. However, local officials have said the vacant spots would be staffed including by teachers who were graded with 2 and 3 out of 10 at their teacher exams. The new school year also brings several changes to the exam system. Changes include an increase in the weight of the average yearly grades into the 8th grade final evaluation, as well as new evaluations at the end of the 2nd, 4th and 6th grades, and a simulation of the Baccalaureate exam for 11th graders. The latter should help avoid the disastrous results of the Baccalaureate in the previous years. The school year will be divided between two semesters and will have several short breaks in November, December, February and April, before the summer break, which will start on June 20. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: sxc.hu)