Romanian Social Democrats back bill to introduce mandatory uniforms in schools

Defending the bill, PSD senator Daniel Zamfir said school should not be about fashion or the bullying of those who cannot afford an outfit. By comparison, uniforms represent pride and belonging, and are not constraints.

“School should be about what the student can do, about their value at school, not about the parents’ financial means,” Daniel Zamfir said, as cited by News.ro.

Daniel Zamfir said that the bill will enter into force from the next school year.

“The decision on what the type of uniform should look like will be left to the educational institutions, in collaboration with the parents, students and the teachers’ council. It will not be an identical uniform for all educational institutions,” Zamfir stressed.

The senator took the opportunity to attack political opponents in the reformist, center-right Save Romania Union party, or USR, who opposed the bill.

“What you have seen from the neo-Marxist current present today in the Education Committee has indeed turned into a political circus that has nothing to do with what this bill should be,” he said.

During an evening session of the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday, September 15, the bill regarding mandatory uniforms was adopted. However, the fines for the parents of students who do not wear uniforms, as well as for schools that do not comply with the mandatory uniform requirement, were removed from the bill.

Senators from PSD, the National Liberal Party (PNL), and the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) voted in favor, while the four USR members abstained from the vote.

USR senator Ștefan Pălărie proposed resuming the meeting next week, during which parents, students, and teachers should be consulted, but the Committee members voted against it.

“We did not support this initiative because we did not get to have the real data discussed, nor the point of view of the social partners: parents, students and teachers,” he added.

To become law, the initiative will have to pass debates in the Senate plenary and a final vote in the Chamber of Deputies.