Education unions are calling for urgent measures to improve safety in schools

Riana Gegiu

20 October 2026, 10:45

Education

Foto: Shutterstock.com

Always see our news on Google

The Free Trade Union Federation in Education and the “Spiru Haret” Education Trade Union Federation are calling on the authorities to take urgent measures to improve the safety of students and school employees following the knife attack committed on Monday by a 13-year-old student at an educational institution in Bistrița.

The student from “Ștefan cel Mare” Secondary School attacked a female teacher and injured a 12-year-old boy. During the incident, he was wearing a balaclava and a helmet. The unions say that the attack is not an isolated case and denounce the growing number of situations in which teachers are threatened or assaulted by students and parents.

The trade union organizations criticize the underfunding of the education system and the abolition of school security guard positions. Their representatives are also calling for an increase in the number of school psychologists, considering that the lack of specialists affects the management of risk situations.

The unions are asking the future Minister of Education to urgently promote a legislative act containing concrete measures against school violence. They warn that if the authorities do not intervene quickly, they will launch nationwide protests. The calls come after a teacher from Timișoara was allegedly assaulted last week by a student’s father and brother.

Context: authorities called for legislative measures and investigated possible indications regarding the attack in Bistrița

Immediately after the incident at the „Ștefan cel Mare” Secondary School in Bistrița, police intervened and restrained the student, while the investigation focused on establishing the exact circumstances and the necessary legal measures. Interim Education Minister Mihai Dimian called for the circumstances of the assault to be clarified quickly and for psychological counseling to be provided to students and teaching staff, also proposing legislative changes such as special criminal protection for education personnel, prompt legal assistance, and mechanisms for rapidly restricting access to schools for people considered dangerous.

At the same time, the authorities verified information according to which the student may have posted threats on TikTok, while the chief inspector of the Bistrița-Năsăud County School Inspectorate initially put forward the hypothesis of possible racial motives, saying that the assailant may have been looking for a student of another ethnicity and that the school did not have a strict procedure for controlling access to the building.