In brief

  • Pupils’ representatives gain a right of access to any school in the country, State or private, other than the one where they study. Access is granted on the basis of an official letter sent by their representative body to the county school inspectorate or that of the Municipality of Bucharest, at least 48 hours before the visit. In exceptional situations, the deadline can be skipped with the agreement of the school’s management.
  • Candidacies open up to any pupil with one year’s standing in the Pupils’ Council. Until now, the rules required a candidate already to be the president of a county pupils’ council or a member of the national Executive Bureau. That requirement has gone, and the one year’s standing is no longer required specifically at national level, but in the Pupils’ Council, at any level.
  • The order brings 30 amendments, four repealed articles and three new ones. A Department of Resources and Finance appears, headed by a vice-president who presents an annual report on the money, the Department of External Relations becomes the Department of Public Relations and Communication, and the deadlock of the Executive Bureau gets a numerical definition: below six of the eleven offices filled, the Bureau can no longer issue decisions.
Act: Order of the Minister of Education and Research no. 5.641/2026 amending and supplementing the Rules on the organisation and functioning of the National Pupils’ Council, approved by Order of the Minister of Education no. 5.428/2024
Published: Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 813 of 24 September 2026, pages 12-14
In force from: 24 September 2026, the date of publication, because the order sets no other date

On 15 September 2026 the Minister of Education and Research signed an order rewriting 30 points of the rules of the National Pupils’ Council (Consiliul Național al Elevilor), the body through which pupils in pre-university education are consulted by the ministry. The text appeared on 24 September 2026 in the Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) and follows the same line as this year’s other decisions that concern pupils directly, from the scholarships of 450 and 300 lei to the pilot programmes in upper secondary schools. The amendments were proposed by the National Pupils’ Council itself, according to the approval memorandum cited in the preamble.

The novelty that takes effect outside the organisation is Article 831, introduced by point 29. Members of the National Pupils’ Council and of the county substructures are given the right of access, on official business, to the premises of State and private pre-university education establishments in Romania other than those where they are enrolled as pupils. Until now, a pupils’ representative who wanted to reach another school depended on the goodwill of its management, because the rules said nothing about it.

The text also fixes the procedure. Access is granted on the basis of an official letter sent by the representative body the pupil belongs to, to the county school inspectorate or that of the Municipality of Bucharest, at least 48 hours before the visit. The purpose has to follow from the exercise of the mandate, and the article gives examples: organising elections in the school councils, taking part in the general assemblies of the school pupils’ councils and of the junior ones, plus other activities undertaken under the rules in force. In exceptional situations, the visit can take place without the 48 hours, but only with the agreement of the establishment’s management.

The second far-reaching change is in Article 69, which lays down who may stand for office. The 2024 version required, as its first condition, that a candidate already hold the office of president of the county pupils’ council or of the Bucharest Municipal Pupils’ Council, or be a member of the national Executive Bureau. That condition has been removed. Five requirements remain: one year’s standing as a member of the Pupils’ Council, except for candidates for the Press Bureau; not being in the final year of upper secondary school, except for candidates for the National Ethics Committee and for the Press Bureau; not being politically affiliated; holding the status of pupil; and not having previously been removed from any structure of the Pupils’ Council.

What it changes in practice

From 24 September 2026, a school that receives from the inspectorate a letter from a county pupils’ council can no longer treat the visit as a favour. Article II of the order expressly places the duty to carry it out on the specialist directorates within the ministry, on the school inspectorates and on the pre-university education establishments. The 48-hour deadline is the only formality, and the purpose has to be connected to the mandate.

The internal structure of the Council changes in three places. Article 9 takes the bodies through which the Council works from four to six, adding the departments and the standing and temporary committees alongside the General Assembly, the Executive Bureau, the National Ethics Committee and the Press Bureau. Article 42 goes from three to four departments, with the appearance of the Department of Resources and Finance, headed by a vice-president. Article 41 keeps five standing committees, but different ones from before: the integration of vulnerable and ethnic groups merges with special education, and the place freed up is taken by a Committee for Educational Policies.

The count of offices comes out exactly. The Executive Bureau has, under Article 23 which the order does not touch, eleven people: a president, eight vice-presidents and two executive secretaries. The five committees require six vice-presidents, because Article 49(2) gives the Committee for Educational Policies two coordinators, and the two departments headed by vice-presidents, international relations and resources and finance, use up the last two. Not a single vice-president is left spare, which means that every vacancy leaves a committee or a department without a coordinator.

The money gets someone in charge of it for the first time. Article 42(5) gives the new department the coordination and supervision of financial activity, the management of resources, the proposing of partnerships and sponsorships with companies, non-governmental organisations and institutions, the planning of a budget and the coordination of project writing for external funds. Article 531 adds, as a duty of the vice-president responsible, the presentation of a report on the state of financial and material resources at the first ordinary session of the General Assembly each year, plus representing the Council in dealings with potential funders, within the limits of the mandate given by the Executive Bureau.

The organisation’s deadlock gets a definition and a way out. Article 391 says that incapacitation of the Executive Bureau means the impossibility of issuing decisions of any kind, and that for the Bureau to function it has to have six of the eleven offices filled. If the threshold is not met, the General Assembly is convened in working session within 30 days, and the Bureau’s powers pass to the Department of Internal Organisation, supported by the Department of Public Relations and Communication. If that department cannot take them over either, they revert to the General Assembly. Separately, Article 39(1) sets 45 days as the maximum length of an interim presidency, held by the secretary of the Department of Internal Organisation.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

The rules of July 2024 solved the deadlock differently. Article 59, now repealed, provided that where the Executive Bureau has more than five vacant posts, the General Assembly appoints interim vice-presidents from among its members, by absolute majority, and that if the Bureau is left wholly incapacitated, the Assembly appoints an interim president, two interim executive secretaries and three interim vice-presidents. The numerical threshold is in fact the same: more than five vacant posts out of eleven means at most five filled, that is, exactly the situation Article 391 now calls incapacitation. The remedy has changed, not the trigger. Instead of filling the gaps with interim holders appointed by the Assembly, the rules suspend the Bureau and move its powers to a department.

On the other hand, vacant posts can now be filled more easily by the normal route. Article 67(2) now allows, by way of derogation, elections for the posts left vacant to be held in extraordinary general assemblies as well, not only in ordinary ones. Article 67 also introduces a symmetry that was missing: the committee that organises and validates the elections is made up of members of the Executive Bureau plus one member of the National Ethics Committee where offices in the Bureau are being filled, and the other way round, of members of the Ethics Committee plus one member of the Bureau where offices in the Ethics Committee are being filled. The old rule, in Article 24, now repealed, knew only one of the two cases.

Two voting thresholds in the General Assembly have swapped places. The persons already listed in the rules, that is, the organising team, the ministry’s representatives, the partners and the accompanying teachers, could take part in debates with the vote of half plus one of the members of the General Assembly, and now a simple majority is enough. Conversely, access for other persons or partner organisations to the plenary proceedings used to be decided by simple majority, and now requires an absolute majority. In practice, the threshold has been relaxed for those on the list and tightened for those outside it.

The delegation of votes has been widened too. A member of the General Assembly unable to attend could delegate the right to vote to another member of the Executive Bureau of the county council; now the delegation can also go to a department director. The delegation document is handed, as before, to the executive secretary of the Department of Internal Organisation.

Finally, Article 84 updates the origin of the text: the rules are shown as adopted by the General Assembly at its 48th session, held in Bucharest in February 2026, instead of the 42nd session held in Ploiești in January 2024.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • The right of access to schools is written as a rule, with a procedure and a deadline, rather than left to be negotiated case by case. A pupils’ representative going to run elections in a school now has a legal basis to show.
  • Removing the condition of already being a county council president or a member of the Executive Bureau opens candidacies to any pupil with one year’s activity in the Pupils’ Council, including at school level.
  • The appearance of a department dedicated to resources and finance, with a duty to report annually to the General Assembly, brings a form of accountability where there was none.
  • The numerical definition of deadlock, six of eleven offices filled, replaces a vague formula and gives a test anyone can apply without interpretation.
  • By-elections can also be held in extraordinary general assemblies, so a vacant post no longer has to wait for the next ordinary session, which takes place twice a year.

What remains a problem

  • The rules impose an obligation on schools, yet Article 85(1), left untouched, says that their provisions are binding on the county councils and on the internal bodies of the National Pupils’ Council. The boundary between the two texts is not drawn.
  • Repealing Article 59 removes from the rules the possibility of appointing interim holders to the vacant posts in the Executive Bureau. Only the electoral route is left, and between deadlock and elections the powers sit with a department.
  • Article 49(2) governs, in its new form, the exception, but the article no longer says who appoints the vice-presidents responsible for the Department of International Relations and for the Department of Resources and Finance, or how. Article 41(2) covers only the committees.
  • The eight vice-presidents cover exactly eight coordinating positions, with nothing in reserve. Any resignation leaves a committee or a department uncovered until the next elections.
  • Article 55, left in its 2024 form, still refers to the „Departamentul de relații externe”, the Department of External Relations, a name the same order removes from Article 42.

Practical advice

  1. If you are a head teacher and you receive a request for access, check whether the letter comes from the representative body rather than from the pupil personally, and whether it was sent to the inspectorate at least 48 hours in advance. Those are the two conditions written into Article 831(2).
  2. If you are a pupil and want to stand, count your standing in the Pupils’ Council, not only in the national structure. Letter (a) of the new Article 69 requires one year as a member of the Pupils’ Council, without any longer requiring a particular office.
  3. Pupils in the final year of upper secondary school can stand only for the National Ethics Committee and for the Press Bureau. For any office in the Executive Bureau, being in the final year remains an obstacle.
  4. County councils wanting to hold by-elections no longer have to wait for the ordinary session: Article 67(2) now allows extraordinary general assemblies as well.
  5. Voting procedures in the General Assembly have changed in two places. Before putting a guest’s access to the vote, check whether that person is on the list in Article 11(9), because the threshold differs: simple majority for those on the list, absolute majority for the rest.
  6. Councils that attract sponsorships would do well to choose their vice-president for resources and finance early: that person is the only one who can represent the Council before funders, and only within the limits of the mandate given by the Executive Bureau.

Frequently asked questions

Can pupils from the Council enter any school?
Any State or private pre-university education establishment in Romania other than the one where they are enrolled as pupils, if the visit relates to the exercise of their mandate. An official letter from the representative body is needed, sent to the school inspectorate at least 48 hours in advance.
What happens if the 48 hours are not observed?
Article 831(3) allows access outside that deadline too, but only in exceptional situations and with the agreement of the education establishment’s management. Otherwise, the deadline is the formal condition for the visit.
Who can now stand for office in the National Pupils’ Council?
Any pupil who has been a member of the Pupils’ Council for at least one year, is not in the final year of upper secondary school, is not affiliated to a political entity and has not previously been removed from a structure of the Pupils’ Council. Candidates for the Press Bureau are exempt from the standing requirement, and those for the National Ethics Committee and for the Press Bureau may be in their final year.
What does incapacitation of the Executive Bureau mean?
The Bureau’s inability to issue decisions of any kind. The threshold is numerical: the Bureau has to have six of the eleven offices filled. Below that level, the General Assembly is convened within 30 days, and the powers pass to the Department of Internal Organisation and, if that department cannot take them over either, to the General Assembly.
What does the new Department of Resources and Finance do?
It coordinates and supervises financial activity, manages resources, proposes partnerships and sponsorships with companies, non-governmental organisations and institutions, plans the budget for activities and coordinates the writing of projects for external funds. The vice-president who heads it presents a report on resources at the first ordinary session of the General Assembly each year.
Does anything change for the school pupils’ councils?
Directly, no. The amendments concern the national and the county structures. Indirectly, the school councils will see representatives from other establishments more often, because Article 831 expressly mentions organising elections at school level and taking part in the general assemblies of the school pupils’ councils, including the junior ones, among the purposes for which access is granted.

Errors and inconsistencies in the published text

  • Article 831 creates obligations for schools and inspectorates, but Article 85(1), left unamended, limits the binding force of the rules to the pupils’ structures. The text introduced by point 29 requires the education establishment to allow access and the school inspectorate to receive the letter. Article 85(1) says, in the 2024 form the order does not touch, that the provisions of the rules are binding „pentru toate consiliile județene ale elevilor/Consiliul Municipal al Elevilor București și pentru toate organismele interne ale CNE”, for all the county pupils’ councils and the Bucharest Municipal Pupils’ Council and for all the internal bodies of the National Pupils’ Council, a list from which schools and inspectorates are absent. Article II of the order does place implementation on the inspectorates and the education establishments, it is true, but it refers to the order, and does not extend the scope of the rules. A school that refuses access relying on Article 85 and one that grants it relying on Article 831 are both applying the same text.

Editorial analysis

The order does two different things under the same cover. One is internal and competent: it rearranges the departments, puts someone in charge of the money, defines deadlock numerically and opens by-elections to extraordinary assemblies. The other reaches outside the organisation and touches the schools, and there the drafting has not kept up with the ambition. A right of access to education establishments is a rule that produces effects towards third parties, not an internal rule of procedure, and it has been placed in a set of rules that names its own addressees, in Article 85.

The internal part is worth reading with a pencil. The rules provide for eight vice-presidents, a figure fixed in Article 23 and untouched by this order. After the amendment, the standing committees require six of them, because educational policies gets two coordinators, and the departments of international relations and of resources and finance take the other two. The sum is exactly eight. The structure has no position in reserve, which means that any resignation immediately leaves a portfolio uncovered, in an organisation where the mandate lasts two years and members leave naturally, by graduating.

The deadlock threshold is not new, although it looks it. The old Article 59, repealed by point 23, was triggered by „more than 5 vacant posts” out of eleven, that is, by at most five offices filled. The new Article 391 requires six offices filled for the Bureau to count as capable, so it is triggered at at most five. It is exactly the same line. What has changed is the remedy: in 2024, the General Assembly appointed interim holders and restarted the Bureau; from 2026, the Bureau stays suspended and its powers move to the Department of Internal Organisation. Except that the department is made up, under Article 42(1), of members of the Executive Bureau. In a Bureau with five of eleven offices filled, the chance that the department still has anyone left is small, and then one reaches paragraph (4) and everything falls to the General Assembly, which meets in ordinary session twice a year and has to be convened within 30 days.

Opening up candidacies is the change with the greatest effect on the organisation, and it goes almost unnoticed, because it appears at point 28 of an order with 30 points. Anyone who wanted a national office had already to be the president of a county council or a member of the Executive Bureau, which narrowed the competition to a circle of a few dozen people. That threshold has been deleted, and the standing required has moved from „member of the National Pupils’ Council” to „member of the Pupils’ Council”, a wording that covers school level too. The pool of candidates grows by an order of magnitude.

What should be changed

  • Completing Article 85(1) with the inspectorates and the education establishments, for the cases in which the rules concern them. Without that addition, the head teacher who refuses access has a text in his favour, and the pupil who asks for it has another text, from the same set of rules. A sentence added to Article 85 costs nothing and removes the only point at which the order can be blocked in practice.
  • Replacing the name „Departamentul de relații externe” in Article 55. The order changes the department’s name in Article 42 and updates it in Articles 56 and 66, but skips Article 55, which is the very text that allocates the two executive secretaries to departments and fixes their two-year mandate. A name is left with no counterpart anywhere else in the rules.
  • A rule for appointing departmental vice-presidents. The old Article 49(2) said that vice-presidents are appointed by decision of the president and validated by the General Assembly, for the committees as well as for the departments. The new paragraph (2) deals only with the exception for the educational policies committee, and Article 41(2) covers only the committees. The two departments headed by vice-presidents are left with no appointment procedure.
  • A coordinating reserve or a rule on holding more than one office. If the eight vice-presidential positions are taken up exactly by the eight portfolios, the rules should say expressly what happens on a vacancy: who takes over the committee or the department until the by-elections. Otherwise the only answer left is interpretation, and the article that used to provide it has been repealed.
  • A deadline for replying to a request for access. Article 831 sets the deadline on the pupils’ side, 48 hours before the visit, but says nothing about what the inspectorate does with the letter, or within what time. A 24-hour deadline for forwarding it to the school would turn the notification into a two-ended procedure rather than a one-sided duty to inform.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 813 of 24 September 2026 16 pages PDF, 113 KB the act starts on page 12

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