Two tracks, one announcement
Prime Minister Luca Niculescu said Thursday that Romania will finalize an integrated school safety plan setting clear responsibilities, prevention measures, rapid intervention mechanisms and firm sanctions for violence. He spoke at Palatul Victoria at a meeting of the government’s working group on preventing and combating school violence, attended by ministers, unions, parents, pupils and NGOs, the national news agency Agerpres reported. Niculescu said safety had been a priority since his government took office, and noted a Monday conference closing a Labor Ministry project with UNICEF and European Commission support on violence against children.
The same morning, the Education Ministry published for public consultation a draft government decision approving a National Strategy for preventing and combating violent extremism, with an interministerial monitoring committee, an action plan and an explanatory note. Comments are open for 10 calendar days under Romania’s 2003 decision-making transparency law, the ministry’s notice states.
What the draft strategy proposes
The strategy covers 2027 to 2030. Digi24 reported that it would add a section on suspected violent extremism to existing school-violence procedures, with school commissions analyzing incidents and risk factors. From 2027, authorities aim to assess 100 schools a year. Against Romania’s roughly 6,000 schools, that is about 1.7 percent annually, a calculation based on the school count cited by Edupedu.
Key targets reported by Digi24 include:
Training 4,000 school counselors and psychologists, with at least 40 hours each.Training at least 100 medical and security staff yearly, with at least 20 hours each.An “atlas” of radicalization indicators, coordinated by the Education Ministry, by the third quarter of 2027.1,250 information sessions reaching 50,000 parents, from the third quarter of 2027.A network of 100 pupil ambassadors for rights and freedoms across all counties.
What teachers, guards and parents would do
Teachers would be trained to recognize situations needing attention, talk with the pupil and family, and apply reporting procedures, Digi24 reported. Listed signs include extremist symbols and messages, self-harm, aggressive behavior and changes in pupils’ digital conduct. Security guards would be trained to recognize and report concrete incidents, not to assess individual pupils; medical staff would watch for injuries, self-harm, anxiety, social withdrawal and changes in eating or sleep.
Mixed teams of school, police, child-protection, social and health staff would handle identified cases, keeping pupils in education, with cooperation protocols signed at prefecture level. Parents would receive information on extremist symbols, recruitment methods and behavioral warning signs. The draft also proposes media-literacy electives in 50 schools for 10,000 pupils and 500 teachers, covering how to verify information and recognize manipulation and AI-generated content.
Safeguards against profiling
The draft explicitly bars using assessments to classify pupils preventively, or basing them solely on opinions, group membership, personal characteristics or isolated behavior, Digi24 reported. Reporting would normally be statistical and aggregated; personal data would move only when needed to manage a case. The strategy’s working definition of violent extremism excludes peaceful exercise of expression, conscience, association or religion, even radical criticism, absent incitement to violence. Terrorist acts fall outside it, governed separately.
On online content, the draft assigns ANCOM, the communications regulator, to coordinate removal orders for illegal material promoting violence or extremism. The explanatory note lists Facebook, Instagram, X, Reddit, WhatsApp, Telegram, YouTube and TikTok as main distribution channels, and Discord, Twitch, Steam, Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft as emerging ones among young people.
The incidents that prompted action
The push follows two knife attacks in October. Edupedu reported that on Oct. 19 a seventh-grade pupil in Bistrița stabbed a teacher and wounded another pupil, and on Oct. 22 a ninth-grade pupil in Pitești wounded two classmates with a machete. On Oct. 23 the government announced seven urgent measures, including more guards and counselors, a rapid-reaction mechanism, tougher sanctions and changes to rules on banned objects.
Edupedu noted that the October communiqué did not specify how many guards or counselors would be hired, the budget, or timelines. Education Minister Sorin Costreie said he would seek 1,000 additional security posts. President Nicușor Dan called the attacks “two signals we can no longer afford to ignore.” A legal analysis is due in the fourth quarter of 2027, with amendments drafted by December 2028 and possible adoption by June 2029.
The integrated safety plan is not yet finalized; Niculescu said proposals from Thursday’s consultation would shape it. The extremism strategy is a draft in consultation, not enacted law.
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