The majority of parliamentarians support the allocation of over 6% of the GDP for education, while 54% say that it is acceptable for the school to receive money from parents, according to a survey by World Vision Romania, to which 145 parliamentarians responded in the period 5 - May 25, 2023, in the context of Children's Day.

141 of the MPs say that education should receive between 6.2% and 6.9% of GDP. Three other independent parliamentarians spoke for about 8% of GDP, and one parliamentarian says that education needs 4.5%.

Answers came from 69 Social Democratic Party (PSD) MPs, 30 Save Romania Union (USR), 29 National Liberal Party (PNL), 11 Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR), 3 independents, 2 Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) and 1 parliamentarian from minorities. The consultation is not equivalent to a representative study at the level of the entire Parliament, but reflects the opinions of those who responded to the foundation's survey.

"Almost all the responding parliamentarians are in favor of an education budget that exceeds 6%, i.e. the percentage provided for in the National Education Law No. 1/2011 and which for 12 years has never been respected. In the last five years, the average GDP for education did not exceed 3%, and in 2023, education received only 2.1% of GDP, being one of the lowest allocations in post-December 1989 history," the World Vision press release states.

Other results following the analysis of the MPs answers are as follows:

- 3.93% of MPs believe that a teacher who raises a student from grade 4 to grade 7 should be more appreciated than one who raises a student from grade 8 to grade 10;

- 74% believe that the legislation should provide for harsher sanctions for children who exhibit aggressive behavior in schools;

- 19% do not think that the school should teach a child to use the phone for educational purposes. The older the parliamentarian, the higher the disagreement for the use of the phone in school;

- a third of the parliamentarians believe that AI (Artificial Intelligence) will be a threat to children's education;

- one out of eight parliamentarians does not agree with the idea that school should offer sexual education to children;

- one out of ten MPs says that sexual education should be taught in schools from the age of 6-9;

- one out of five MPs believes that children are not able to express their opinion regarding the laws that directly affect them and as a result they should not be consulted.AGERPRES(RO - author: Irinela Visan, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Catalin Cristian Trandafir, editor: Maria Voican)