Budget Allocations and Pre-university Educational Policies Promoted by the Romanian Government in the First Decade of the Interwar Period

Abstract

In this research, the authors are investigating the way how the governmental authorities in Romania approached in the first decade of the interwar period the problem of reforming the pre-university education system. Its reorganization was very important for two basic reasons: it had to ensure the national unitary character of the state and, at the same time, it had to have a decisional influence for the development direction of the new state: conservative-traditionalist (peasant) or progressive (industrialized). The principles that stood at the base of the educational policy in Romania during the discussed period, debated and analyzed by the politicians of that time, by the decision-makers, teachers, parents, specialists etc., is an important concern in today's society, given the urgent need to achieve a profound change in today's Romanian pre-university education system. The importance of the study resides from the wish to stretch those Romanian educational traditions necessary to project and implement of a curricula reform today, which should correspond both to the expectations of students, parents and the economic and social needs of contemporary society. Investing in the education system was a matter of national priority because the school was considered a tool for building the Romanian nation in the new geopolitical context. There have been massive investments in expanding the school infrastructure in terms of primary and secondary education, but also in increasing the number of teachers. In 1922 the share of public education expenditures in the state budget expenditures was 10.1%, and in 1928 it rose to 13.4%.