The new Romanian Language and Literature program for the 9th grade, currently under public debate, has sparked heated discussions in recent weeks. At the center of them is university professor Oana Fotache Dubălaru, the scientific coordinator of the document.
In an interview published in the Ficțiunea magazine and quoted by Edupedu, the professor clarifies one of the most controversial points: the decision to return to the chronological organization of the literature course was not made in the Ministry of Education’s working group, but emerged from a series of discussions she had last year with about 30 high school teachers at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest.
Fotache recounts that in 2024, she invited teachers from very different schools - "elite high schools, but also high schools from economically and socially disadvantaged areas" - to understand how students perceive literature and where the blockages occur when the curriculum needs to be transformed into real lessons. The conclusion of the participants, she says, was surprisingly unanimous: "the chronological organization of the subject would better consolidate knowledge and facilitate the development of the targeted skills."
The coordinator states that the dialogue with middle and high school teachers is constant and that she is "always in touch with the teachers (…) and aware of their concerns and fears." From her perspective, the return to chronology is not a radical gesture, but a return to normalcy: "It just seems like we live in a world without history. In reality, history holds us accountable."
"It's not fair to cultivate the illusion in students that everything will be easy"
Oana Fotache explains that high school has the mission of forming readers capable of understanding the world they live in, not literary critics. "It's not fair to cultivate the illusion in students that everything will be easy and that it doesn't matter how prepared they are," she says. The ability to track literary evolutions, contexts, themes, and conventions becomes, in her opinion, an essential competence in an era where young people "will compete in the job market with artificial intelligence tools."
Another sensitive point is the reintroduction of chronicles. Fotache rejects the idea that students would be overburdened: the curriculum covers three centuries of literature in 35 weeks, and the chronicles amount to one or two lessons, with only one recommended author - Ion Neculce. She even provides examples of excerpts that show the potential of old texts to generate discussions about "politics, diplomacy, moral choices, and destiny."
The coordinator also criticizes the tendency to consider Romanian students incapable of working with old literature, unlike their colleagues in other European countries. "I refuse to believe that students in Romania should be viewed differently from those in other European countries, who study literature chronologically, starting with medieval texts," the professor said.
The Risk of Falsifying History
Fotache also discusses the representation of female writers in the 9th-grade program. She rejects artificial solutions that would introduce female authors only to retrospectively correct an injustice: "If we falsify history, what can we expect in the future? Orwell made it clear in 1984."
Instead, she proposes that the rarity of female writers in old literature becomes a theme for historical reflection, with the aim that they are naturally and consistently present in higher grades.
Regarding contemporary literature, which is also criticized for its reduced weight in the new program, the coordinator argues that its natural place is in the 12th grade, when students can understand the connections between epochs. "We can't just offer cherries on top. We need to layer the base, the cream, the icing one by one," the professor further states.
School, Fotache says, should provide a mature relationship with literature, not avoid difficulty. And the international examples are clear. "In the UK, no one thought to remove Shakespeare's plays from the curriculum," she affirms, criticizing the discourse that labels old texts as unattractive or useless.
Why Is the New Program So Controversial
The Ministry of Education has put the new program for the 9th grade up for public debate until December 12 - the first major update in over 20 years. It marks the transition from the thematic model, introduced in the 2000s, to a diachronic approach focused on the historical evolution of language and literature.
The change has generated harsh reactions from teachers, university professors, educational counselors, and textbook authors.
The main criticisms raised were:
Program too abstract and too difficult for the students' age. Several teachers warn that the document is inadequately adapted to the cognitive level of 14-15-year-old adolescents, with a large volume of literary history and erudite concepts. University professor Claudiu Turcuș argues that the reform is "a nonsense that nobody needed" and that the program turns the Romanian language class into a course for college students.
"Seems made for Literature students" - Luciana Antoci, advisor to Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan on education issues and former general school inspector in Iași, states that the document is completely detached from the realities and needs of high school students. Antoci says the program "seems more tailored to the needs horizon of first-year Literature students" rather than for adolescents at the beginning of high school, who have different concerns, developmental pace, and level of understanding.
Outdated linguistic profile - Linguist Mădălina Chitez points out in an analysis for Edupedu that the program uses difficult metalinguistic vocabulary, abstract academic terms, and cumbersome definitions, which can hinder real learning and encourage mechanical memorization.
"A nonsense that nobody needed" - Professor and literary researcher Ștefan Baghiu, from "Lucian Blaga" University in Sibiu, also severely criticized the new program. According to the professor, the changes represent a substantial regression and completely ignore the realities of the current generation of high school students. "Like all measures taken so far by the Ministry of Education, the reform in Romanian is a nonsense that nobody needed, actually," the professor said.
Contemporary texts are poorly represented - Specialists argue that there are no clear links to the middle school curriculum and that contemporary literature is strongly marginalized. Teachers warn that the pressure on literary history could accentuate functional illiteracy, which is already at alarming levels.
Faced with a deluge of criticism, Education Minister Daniel David maintains that the program is just a proposal and that the ministry is "listening to feedback," with the final document to be adjusted.