Romania to introduce detention in schools

This disciplining method in education is more widespread in the Anglosphere

Romania will begin the new school year by adding a new tool in the discipline arsenal – detention rooms. According to the country’s Ministry of Education, each school will have to organize separate space and supervision procedures for students who disrupt classes.

The change comes with the new Student Statute and the Regulation for the Organization and Functioning of Pre-University Education Units. The new regulations are set to enter into force in September when the new academic year begins.

Some controversy regarding detention

School detention is familiar to many people from American films. In fact, a cult film from the 1980s, The Breakfast Club, revolves around a group of rebellious students in detention. Anyone who has studied in countries such as the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and South Africa, is well aware that school detention is part and parcel of the educational system and misbehaving students are intimately acquainted with this system.

Europeans, however, have more mixed feelings towards the idea of separating troublesome students in a sort of temporary jail room as a form of punishment and discipline. School detention exists in some countries, such as Germany, but even there this depends on each particular federal state and in some of them it is outlawed.

The Romanian Ministry of Education, it seems, has warmed up to the idea of trying this approach and it has published the standard guidelines on the way it will play out.

"Teachers can decide to send students who exhibit behaviours that can disrupt classes in another space within the school during that particular class. In such cases, the following are mandatory: the student must be supervised by another teacher or auxiliary staff, and the parent must be informed. The teacher can make this decision only for their class,” says the press release.

The Ministry indicates that the punished student will not be marked as absent though.

Still, due to the novelty of the measure, not everyone is happy about it. According to student associations, detention infringes on students' right to education. Plus, there is the problem that many Romanian schools don’t have free rooms to dedicate to detention.