Mandatory education could start at the age of five in Romania, down from six currently

Mandatory education could start at age five in Romania and this change might be made in the next two years, according to the Romanian Minister of Education Remus Pricopie. Mandatory education currently starts at the age of six, with the preparatory class. “It’s just an idea considered by the ministry, it’s not a proposal submitted to the Government and we don’t intend to submit it now, but our estimation is that in maximum two years we will have to lower the age at which mandatory education of children begins, namely to have the obligation to at least attend the kindergarten’s senior group,” said Remus Pricopie, quoted by local news agency Mediafax. The Romanian Minister of Education also wants to lower by one or two years the age at which children start to learn a second foreign language. In Romania, children currently start learning a secondary foreign language in the fifth grade. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: Sxc.hu)