Romanias education ministry faces backlash over plan to let high schools hold separate entrance exams

Romania’s Education Ministry has opened public debate on a proposal allowing high schools to run separate entrance exams for up to 50 percent of their seats starting in the 2027 school year, sparking widespread criticism from parents, teachers and school leaders.
Education Minister Mihai Dimian told HotNews on Wednesday that Romania is “not truly prepared as a society or as a system” for an additional exam beyond the national evaluation already taken by eighth-graders. He acknowledged the measure, embedded in the 2023 pre-university education law, has triggered “considerable discontent” and said he supports legislative proposals to delay or scrap its introduction .
Three lawmakers filed bills on Wednesday to postpone or eliminate the new exam. Parents interviewed by Digi24 warned the change would add stress, favor wealthier families who can afford private tutoring and risk fraud, with one calling it “a new mess” that could entrench corruption . Roxana Paraschiv of Save the Children Romania said extra tests would deepen inequality and harm students’ mental health .
School leaders also raised alarms. Andreia Bodea, principal of Bucharest’s I.L. Caragiale National College, said the proposed organization—local supervision, non-anonymized papers and in-house grading—“raises major suspicions” and could enable fraud. She announced her school would not hold the exam if the rules remain unchanged . The National Parents Federation EDUPART demanded the ministry withdraw and overhaul the draft, arguing it violates students’ rights, risks systemic fraud and revives a discredited dual-exam system abolished in 1999 .
Marcel Bartic, a history teacher and director of the private Evrika School in Bucharest, said education has become “a luxury product” accessible to fewer children. He argued the exam would entrench inequality and dismissed the notion that motivation alone ensures success as “ridiculous nonsense” . Some parents and principals support the idea, with one parent telling Digi24 that students should learn competitiveness and that the national evaluation should be scrapped in favor of subject-specific entrance tests .
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