European Day of Foreign Languages

The right to education is one of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is closely related to what we celebrate annually on September 26 – European Day of Foreign Languages ​​- an occasion to celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity at a European level.

According to Eurostat data, the first three foreign languages ​​studied in the EU are English, French and German. In our country, about 85% of the children enrolled in primary education theoretically learn English. Knowledge of a foreign language is certainly an academic advantage – due to a greater openness to study abroad programs – and from a professional point of view – employers being more interested in multilingual candidates on the labor market- . However, the Romanian education leaves room for substantial improvements, proving that our country has the highest rate of functional illiteracy in the EU, more or less approx. 40%. Moreover, the early school dropout rate is 18.5% 1, and over 300,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are in the NEET category. The incidence of this rate (NEET) is particularly high among girls (17.4%) and Roma people. School dropout, functional illiteracy, low baccalaureate promotion, NEET category integration are nothing but cascading effects of an under-funded system. The 1% of GDP allocated for the university system is appreciated but it is necessary to invest at least to the same extent in basic education, because that is the first stage in the training of our young people.

It is our duty, dear colleagues, to provide our children with a quality education, because a young population, educated in an intercultural context, can contribute to the social and economic evolution of our country.

Political statement dated September 26, 2018