Deputies voted for equal access to education for children without IDs

The initiative presented by the independent deputy Oana Bîzgan, together with more than 60 MPs from all political groups, requesting access to education for children without an ID was submitted today to be voted in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies. It passed with 282 votes in favor, no votes against and no abstentions. This entails the modification of the law no. 1/2011 of the national education system in such a way that these children can be enrolled in the education system.

The legislative initiative stipulates that those children who do not have the ID will be able to enroll in the educational institutions to which they belong, having the possibility to access this right guaranteed by the Romanian Constitution and the International Conventions to which Romania is party. In addition, the representatives of the educational institutions to which the registration is requested will let authorities know as soon as possible, in order for them to start the process of registering and issuing a birth certificate and a personal numeric code.

“Unfortunately, although the right to education is provided legally and equally for all citizens, children who do not have IDs and implicitly do not have birth documents cannot benefit from it. There are, therefore, frequent cases in which children cannot go to school because of situations in which they bear no fault and that they cannot solve on their own. We want, through this proposal, to solve these situations and to stop the perpetuation of a systematic problem, by making all those involved accountable. Hence the importance of this trans-party collaboration for women. The education of children should be ensured, regardless of the political party we are a part of – I thank my colleagues for supporting this initiative” says MP Oana Bîzgan, initiator of the project.

The right to education is guaranteed to all children in our country, both by the Constitution and by the international Conventions to which Romania is party, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. Authorities estimate that over 160,000 Romanians have no identity documents, and the majority of those without documents are children. The lack of identity documents affects both these children and their entire community, through an increased risk of poverty and social exclusion, illiteracy, exposure to abuse and violence or human trafficking.

“It is not the fault of the children that they do not have the necessary documents for enrollment in school; they are not responsible for the fact that, for one reason or another, they do not have an ID. The state has a duty to intervene through the social assistance services to correct this discriminatory situation – it is the right of every child to benefit from an equal start in life” says Mara Mareș, PNL deputy and co-initiator of the legislative proposal.

“We are discussing the equality and universality of citizens’ rights and freedoms, the right to free education; As a pediatrician and a member of the Committee on Health and Family, I particularly focus on these issues – we have a duty to ensure that in Romania, an EU member country, there will be no people without identity cards, especially no children, who cannot attend school,” says Dr. Maricela Cobuz, PSD deputy in support of the proposal initiated.

“With this initiative we take two important steps. On the one hand, we ensure that access to education is indeed a right of all children and that they can obtain the much-needed identity papers. On the other hand, it is the second large-scale collaboration of the women of the Romanian Parliament regarding this legislature, which shows that there are causes – education is one of them – that go beyond political borders”, adds USR deputy Lavinia Cosma, an activist for children’s access to equal and non-discriminatory education.

The legislative initiative was submitted in the Parliament in May this year, the Chamber of Deputies being the first chamber notified. It will be a matter of debate in the standing committees of the Senate. This is the second joint trans-party initiative of women in Parliament, the first of which – raising the age at which children in the protection system is sent to the residential institutions – being voted in the Chamber of Deputies (the decision-making chamber) at the same plenary sitting. It must now be promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis.