Date posted: December 19, 2012

In Romania students and teachers that ranked highly at the 2011-2012 international Olympiads were awarded during an official ceremony attended by Prime Minister Victor Ponta and Minister of Education, Ecaterina Andronescu.

Out of the 138 award-winning students, 44 were from the Turkish school in Romania, Lumina Educational Institutions. After the Lumina students won one-third of the awards handed out at the ceremony, Minister of Education, Andronescu pointed out, “You see how many awards they won. They deserve the most applauds.”

138 students, teachers, and academic administrators from all around the country gathered at Victoria Palace, Headquarters of Romanian Government to collect their awards.

During opening statements at the award ceremony Prime Minister Victor Ponta congratulated all of the accomplished teachers, schools, parents and Ministry of Education for rearing such brilliant children and making Romania an internationally acknowledged name.

After the Prime Minister’s speech, Romanian Minister of Education, Ecaterina Andronescu explained, “The Olympiads are organized annually to award successful students and teachers and promote academic excellence. Today 138 students from 74 schools have earned awards. This is a blissful moment for our students and educational system. Receiving praise from our government must have brought them all great pleasure. By presenting their victories in Victoria Palace, we have given them the honor they all deserve.”

As an instructor that used to prepare student for the Olympiads year after year, Minister Andronescu says, “Greeting students at the airport when they return from international competitions is an immense honor.”

The Minister Applauded all of the Turkish-School Teachers

As the Minister was congratulating all of the winners, she made a point of mentioning that the instructors of the Lumina Educational Institutions deserved exclusive acknowledgements. “These instructors deserve exclusive praise, for they are the ones that earned our country the most international awards in the Olympiads. They deserve the biggest round of applauds.” she said to the audience as she congratulated them one by one. Later, she posed for a picture with the whole Lumina group.

Goktas: “Our Schools have Become Models”

President of the Lumina Educational Institutions, Fatih Goktas brought attention to the fact that 44 of the 138 award winners were educated in Turkish Schools.

Goktas explained that since 1994 they have earned Romania many medals and awards by representing them in national and international competitions. “The number of medals our students earn increases every year. As the Minister said, our students were the ones to earn the most awards in the Olympiads. Our schools have been named model schools by the Romanian Ministry of Education,” proudly said Goktas.

The Lumina Educational Institutions was established by Turkish entrepreneurs in 1994 and now has 11 schools throughout the 6 significant cities: Bucharest, Constanta, Iasi, Cluj, Timisoara, and Ploesti with close to 3,000 enrolled students.

Ciobataru: “I Can not Forget the Turkish Olympiads”

Gaining honorable mention for his recital of the poem, Beni Yalniz Birakma (Do Not Leave Me Alone) during the International Turkish Olympiads in Turkey this year, a student at the International Computer High School of Bucharest (ICHB), Stefan Ciobataru, also stood among the Ministry’s honorees.  However instead of speaking about the ceremony, he preferred to talk about his experiences at the Turkish Olympiads. 1,500 students from 135 countries came together in the name of world peace during the Turkish Olympiads. “I love the Turkish language and the people very much; I even started writing my own poems in Turkish. I made many friends and form very strong relationships there; I believe we will instill world peace all together,” said Ciobataru.

First Place Winner of The Balkan Mathematics Olympiad Wants to Attend College in Turkey

Another student from ICHB, Stefan Spataru, was the Gold Medal recipient of the Balkan Mathematics Olympiad; he also received a Bronze Medal at the International Mathematics Olympiad. Spataru visited Turkey several times and said he likes it very much. His goal is to attend college in Turkey.

Source: Zaman November 16, 2012

Disclaimer: The original article is in Turkish. Slight deviations from the original meaning may have occurred due to the difficulties in translating phrases and idioms. PII volunteers translated the article.

Tags: Education | Europe | Hizmet-inspired schools | Romania | Science olympiads |