The Romanian Minister of Education proposes this change because in the current form, there are thousands of students with grades below 5 who receive merit scholarships, a fact criticized by education experts.

For the current merit scholarships, the Minister of Education has not set even a minimum threshold above the retake grade. And now, she acknowledges that the idea of awarding scholarships to a third of the students in each class was a mistake.

Ligia Deca, Minister of Education: "This policy was created to avoid having schools where either all children receive scholarships, which no longer represents an incentive in itself, or no child receives a scholarship. They have a dual role. The purpose of stimulating performance and, at the same time, the role of encouraging children to learn more. Legislative changes are needed in the primary law".

Since the project stage, there were voices contesting the idea of offering merit scholarships to 460,000 students, of which 8,500 have GPAs below 5 and 168, around 1. However, Minister Deca signed the documents, only to announce changes after just 4 months with the new rules. From the next school year, scholarships based on grades will be limited to 30% of the class. 9.50 and above - merit scholarships. Between 7 and 9.50 - resilience scholarships, probably with a different amount.

The requirement for this new category will be that the student has no absences. Admittedly, half of the recipients will be removed from the merit list. Nevertheless, the ministry has not monitored the academic progress of those with lower GPAs who have been receiving 450 lei per month since September.

Reporter: You, with 9.53, how much have you worked?

Student: "Quite a lot, but I have to fix a lot of grades. I was on the verge of not getting the scholarship with a 9 GPA. There's money, I mean personally, I'm satisfied".

The 9.50 threshold for the merit scholarship can stimulate students with GPAs between 8 and 9 to study harder. Many are astonished that in other high schools, they have classmates who are scholarship holders with GPAs between 2 and 3.

Reporter: What kind of student should receive a merit scholarship?

Student: "A student who studies. 9.90, 10 and a bit..."

Student: "Students who study very well".

Student: "Eminent, really eminent!"

Currently, there are 6 types of scholarships. The highest amounts are for Olympic excellence and for female students who give birth before graduating from high school.