The State Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Research, Adriana Cazacu, spoke about this initiative on the programme ‘A Future for Romania’, broadcast on 30 October in Bucharest. She rejected the idea that young people today read less, arguing that the problem lies rather with the type of reading material and the texts proposed in schools.
“First of all, I do not believe that young people today read less. I believe they read a great deal; it just depends on what they read. And, crucially, I believe we need to give more thought to the content units we offer pupils in the curriculum, or the literary and artistic works we suggest they study, because I think we need to move more towards contemporary literature – literature that is closer to the realities in which today’s young people live,” said Cazacu.
According to the State Secretary, the school syllabus needs to be more closely aligned with the interests and experiences of current generations. To this end, the Ministry is working on a new curriculum, which will also include contemporary authors, including writers who have made their debut in the last 5–10 years.
“Of course, they need to be familiar with, I don’t know, the literary process. I don’t believe they need to know the entire history of Romanian literature from its beginnings to the present day. In any case, we select certain texts – canonical texts or whatever we choose – but schools also contribute to establishing this canon and, in my view, I think we should focus more on contemporary literature,” explained Adriana Cazacu.
Reading workshops
Another measure under consideration is the introduction of reading workshops, in which pupils read and analyse different types of texts, not just literary works. The Ministry aims to include these activities in the curriculum and the framework plan, making them compulsory for all pupils.
Cazacu emphasised that the development of reading skills should not be the sole responsibility of Romanian language and literature teachers. Pupils should work with texts and learn to interpret them across all subjects, from history and civic education to biology, physics and mathematics.
In his view, reading activities carried out at school are also important for children who do not have a library at home or access to enough books. The teacher would guide them during lessons, and reading would be accompanied by discussions and critical interpretation.
This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.The translation was also reviewed by the Logos Press editorial team.
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