The violence in Romanian schools reached a new level: a 16-year-old teenager slashed his teacher’s throat with a knife during classes. The victim, a female, survived, despite the intention of the criminal.
The boy is now under arrest for 30 days. In Romania, 16 years of age is enough to be prosecuted if it is proved the criminal is not devoid of discernment capacity. Therefore, he is accused of attempted murder.
Police sources claimed that the criminal justified his gesture by saying he felt to do so. A day before the tragic event, he boasted on the Whatsapp group of his classmates that he would kill the teacher. Apparently, the class was upset with the teacher as she intended to test their Japanese knowledge.
The strange coincidence is that the event occurred when the education minister announced the start of the long-awaited education reform. It seems the reform should start at home, not in school.
Such events remind society that Romanian schools are far from being secure. Drugs, violence, sexual crimes and harassment, and corruption of the professors – all define Romanian schools at the moment—no or late police intervention favour criminality. The lack of responsibility of today’s parents does even more harm. The whole generation is raised in a rotten environment, and school is far from what it used to be.
Are Romanian schools going to be safe again? It’s hard to tell now, but the situation is not encouraging. It’s not only about the PISA tests, which Romanian pupils fail every two years, but also about the behaviour of an entirely new generation. And this is not going to be an easy fix.