Romania : A Proposed Early Warning Mechanism for Early School Leaving Prevention and Proposed Action Plan for Implementation

Early school leaving (ESL) refers to people aged 18 to 24 who leave education and training without attaining lower secondary education. Early school leavers have difficulty finding stable jobs and are, therefore, at risk of poverty and social exclusion. Reducing the number of early leavers from education and training is one of the key objectives of the EU 2020 Strategy. Romania is one of the EU outliers with the ESL rate of 16.4 percent in 2018.1 While the ESL rate in big cities is below EU average and well within the 2020 national target set at 11.3 percent, the ESL rate in rural areas is considerably higher at 26 percent and shows a growth tendency. Romania’s National Strategy to Reduce Early School Leaving envisages the adoption of an Early Warning Mechanism (EWM) for addressing ESL. This EWM was developed by the WB under the Administration Agreement SRSS/S2018/063 between the European Commission, Structural Reform Support Service - and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. While contributing to a reduction in the level of early school leaving in Romania, this EWM will also contribute to enhancing cohesion, competitiveness, sustainable growth and job creation in Romania. The proposed EWM addresses two gaps that have been identified in the current Romanian policy framework for preventing and reducing ESL: (i) there are no clear and mandatory procedures for collecting data on groups at risk of ESL, and (ii) there is no comprehensive intervention mechanism involving School Inspectorates and schools that would ensure coordinated implementation of ESL reduction measures at national level. Having analyzed the best practice from European countries that have successfully prevented and reduced ESL, as well as the Romanian experience, the proposed EWM is based on a multilevel and multidisciplinary approach to ESL through prevention, intervention and compensation measures and collaboration among institutions from different sectors and levels. While the proposed EWM addresses the school, county inspectorate, and central level, the school has been identified as the key level and focus of interventions. Given the key role of the school in the proposed EWM, but also of all other levels, this document also highlights the need for human and financial resources and training. Importantly, based on this EWM, a national program for addressing ESL is promoted.