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The Asylum Act prescribes for the right of minor asylum seekers to have access to before pre-school (0-3 years), pre-school (3-6 years) and compulsory education (6-18 years) under the same conditions as minor Romanian citizens, as long as no measure is taken to remove them or their parents from Romania.[1] Access to education is therefore free and unconditional.[2]
Compulsory general education consists of 10 grades and includes primary and lower secondary education. Compulsory education ends at the age of 18.[3]
Education is provided in regular schools. In general, children are enrolled at local schools whose territorial jurisdiction covers the respective Regional Centres. Asylum-seeking children are enrolled in normal classes together with Romanian children as observers for the first year. Being an observer means that the child is not listed in the class book and they do not receive grades.
According to CNRR,[4] although asylum seeking children have access to education in the same conditions as Romanian children, in practice, the lack of funding, delayed school enrolment and the lack of trained teachers hinders their overall learning experience and their educational integration. Progress has been registered in terms of access to education, following the adoption in 2022 of the new Methodologies on diploma recognition, school enrolment and Romanian language classes for refugees. However, the effective implementation of these measures by school units has been affected by different interpretation approaches and by the lack of proper communication from the Ministry of Education.
According to CNRR[5], the language barrier is an important obstacle to accessing socio-economic rights, including education. Moreover, procedures for accessing national public health programs, health insurance, applying for social benefits (unemployment or child allowance), school enrolment, are characterised by heavy bureaucratic procedures that are very difficult to navigate without any guidance or assistance. Public institutions services are not adapted to the specific needs of asylum seekers, the public servants are not aware of the legislation in this field and therefore their access to these rights is oftentimes denied requiring direct interventions from NGOs.
As of 2022, the situation was the following:
In Bucharest, Giurgiu and Şomcuta Mare, the NGO representatives together with IGI-DAI draft the enrolment request.
In Galaţi, enrolment requests are made by NGO representatives and lodged by IGI-DAI, in order for IGI-DAI to notify the County School Inspectorate (Inspectoratul Școlar Județean, ISJ) The enrolment procedure may take up to 2-3 weeks. In some cases, the answer was provided swiftly and in others not. By the time the inspectorate sends its answer, the asylum procedure is usually completed, or the persons have left the country, or the parents did not take the children to the school. In 2022, nine children were enrolled at school. The JRS representative also mentioned that asylum seeker children are not enrolled in the Integrated Information System of Education in Romania (SIIR), since they are registered as auditing the classes, which means that schools do not receive funds and other educational materials for these children.
In Rădăuţi, no problems were reported with the enrolment procedure. This is ensured by the integration officer. In 2022 children enrolled at school, some of them attended the classes and some refused to go because they did not understand anything.
Şomcuta Mare: as in 2021, in 2022 no children were enrolled at school, according to the director, because they left the centre.
In Giurgiu according to the director of the centre, the legal representative of DGASPC Giurgiu drafts the enrolment requests for the asylum-seeking unaccompanied minors. It was also reported that at the time of enrolment children have already left the centre and have not returned. If their enrolment has been successful none of the asylum seekers attended the course. This was also reported for 2022.
Bucharest: there were nine requests for enrolment in 2022. As of 2020 children have been enrolled at the “25 School”.
None of the children accommodated in the regional centre Timișoara were enrolled at school because they left the centre, according to the director of the centre. As for the children accommodated at the DGASPC centre of Timișoara the director said they were enrolled at school. Conversely, according to the Save the Children representatives, children are enrolled at school only when granted a form of protection, by AIDRom. The ISJ had enrolled them at “second chance”, motivating that there are no places available in the regular schools, as Ukrainian children had priority.
Preparatory classes
Following the 2015 reform, the Asylum Act foresees a free intensive preparatory course for asylum-seeking children in view of easing their access to education before the enrolment at the national education system.[6] The training course is organised by the Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research, in collaboration with IGI-DAI. Children should be enrolled at the preparatory course within 3 months from the date their asylum application was made. At the same time, the child may be enrolled as an observer in the relevant year of study.
At the end of the preparatory course, an Evaluation Commission, whose composition and functioning are established by order of the Minister of National Education and Scientific Research assesses the level of knowledge of the Romanian language and establishes the registration of asylum seekers in the corresponding year of study.
In 2022 preparatory courses were provided in most of the regional centres, except Timișoara. The situation was the following:
Giurgiu: The director of the centre reported that the preparatory course for learning Romanian was held twice a week for two hours, at the Tudor Vianu Theoretical High School in Giurgiu. The staff of the Ministry of Education comes to the regional centre. Asylum seekers did not participate, according to the director of the centre, only beneficiaries.
In Galaţi, according to JRS, an ISJ professor offers courses for child asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection. The course for asylum-seeking children takes place twice a week and lasts two hours. Children learn Romanian language but also mathematics.
In Rădăuţi, as of October 2019, preparatory classes are held for asylum-seeking and beneficiaries of international protection children and adults, three times per week. The courses target adult beneficiaries of international protection, but the teacher also welcomes asylum seekers. Two age groups were formed, one for 6 to 10 years of age and the other from 10 to 18 years of age. The classes are held separately by a professor from ISJ four times a week. Children learn Romanian language, colour and play.
In Şomcuta Mare, according to the director the course is conducted at the school where they are enrolled.
In Bucharest, preparatory courses are held at School 25, according to the director of the centre.
Asylum-seeking children with special needs enjoy the same alternative arrangements as those provided for Romanian children. Throughout 2022, there were no children with special needs in the Regional Centres of Timișoara, Galaţi, Rădăuţi, Giurgiu, Şomcuta Mare and Bucharest.
In 2023, NGOs such as AIDRom[7] and Save the Children[8] have provided, within the regional centres, various education opportunities: Romanian language courses, support in access to the education system, but also access to extra-curricular activities. Also, the NGOs provided support to IGI-DAI in the procedure of enrolling minors asylum seekers in the preparatory course, and enrolling in the national education system. Save the Children highlighted that the Romanian authorities do not offer educational programmes specially designed to meet the needs of this category of children. NGOs facilitate as much as possible the relationship with the schools/teaching staff/parents, offer additional support to the minor for school accommodation and language learning, subject recovery, etc. Within the project “Information, counselling and complex assistance for asylum seekers from the regional centres of the General Inspectorate for Immigration – OUTPUT 3, financed by UNHCR, there was also the activity of granting at least 48 educational packages for minors enrolled in preschool and school education. Unfortunately, the number of minors enrolled in the school for the 1-year intensive Romanian language course was very small. AIDRom managed to award only 7 packages (5 in the regional centre from Bucharest and 2 in the regional centre from Maramureș- Şomcuta Mare).
[1] Article 17(1)(p) Asylum Act.
[2] Article 6(1) Asylum Decree.
[3] Article 16(1) and (2) Public Education Act.
[4] CNRR, Input by civil society organisations to the Asylum Report 2024, 2023, available here.
[5] CNRR, Input by civil society organisations to the Asylum Report 2024, 2023, available here.
[6] Article 18(1)-(4) Asylum Act.
[7] Information provided by AIDRom, 15 January 2024.
[8] Information provided by Save the Children, 15 January 2024.