Sinziana-Elena Poiana Ioana Lupea Irina-Madalina Doroftei Alina ...

tradition could be deconstructed if infringing on the duty of an objective, critical and pluralistic
education system.
The research conclusions were that the institution in charge of assuring a non-discriminatory
environment for ethnical or religious variety/differences – the National Council for Combating
Discrimination – is efficient and capable of discerning and taking the right decisions. It correctly
concluded that the Roma child was not discriminated against (as the researcher had the opportunity to
discover during the field work) and that religious icons have a place in religion laboratories, not in
everyday school life. What made a difference were the public opinion and their reaction and lobby
with other state institution.
Furthermore, the research revealed that in Mehedinti county, were the alleged Roma segregation in
school had taken place, the Roma children were encouraged to come to school, without being
separated from the Romanian children. This happened especially in villages where teachers were in
the position of losing their job if their classes hadn't reached a certain number of pupils.
Therefore, there are many cases of schools that function in a multiethnic environment without
discriminating against minorities. There is no need for new legislative proposals (the law is very clear
and comprehensive) but the recommendation is to popularize best practices and implement them in
other schools across the country.
As regards to religious education and the presence of religious icons in schools, the law is also clear:
religious diversity is accepted and pupils can study their own denomination, or not study at all religion
after primary school. But the research found cases of intolerance towards religious diversity in schools
(in some parts of Romania these are isolated cases, but in other parts they can be encountered more
often – only a more detailed research devoted to this issue could be able to determine the real
situation). One can consider that the presence of religious icons in classrooms is a sign of disrespect
towards non-Orthodox pupils and that the public mobilization against the CNCD decision was
preaching for minimal tolerance of religious minorities. But in fact, the situation is much more
nuanced and the real issue at stake is the teaching of religion (compulsory in primary school) versus
teaching the history of religions. The same moral values can be passed on in an abstract way, without
the involvement of Religion as a school subject. The general recommendation is the separation of state
and church, and more particular, replacing in the school curriculum the Religion discipline with
History of Religions.
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