E-Civis

Petition to the Ombudsman

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From: E-Civis Association

 

To: People's Advocate

Ministry of Education

Ministry of Health

 

Petition

 

Subscribed E-Civis Association, a non-governmental association whose aim is to promote and defend the rights of Romanian citizens, we would like to inform you that the Joint Order issued by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health on measures to organize work in educational establishments/institutions on 7 March 2021 violates the provisions of Articles 34 and 35 of the Romanian Constitution with regard to the rights of pre-school children and primary school students:

– rights and freedoms infringed:

ARTICLE 34
(1) The right to health protection is guaranteed.

2. The State shall be obliged to take measures to ensure hygiene and public health.

ARTICLE 35
(1) The State recognises the right of every person to a healthy and environmentally balanced environment.

2. The State shall provide the legislative framework for the exercise of that right.

(3) Natural and legal persons have a duty to protect and improve the environment.

We base our petition on the following arguments:

  1. In the context that the infection rate passes 3 per thousand in a locality, classes in which more than 15 children learn can no longer be considered a healthy environment.
  2. Without a justified review of the conditions for the consideration of a community at epidemiological risk, carried out by health professionals, I consider that the issuance of the abovementioned Common Order represents an excess of power. The two issuing ministries of the joint order acted in violation of the rights and freedoms of the pupils and their parents, referred to in Articles 34 and 35 of the Constitution.
  3. There is no rational justification for the measures ordered because different legal treatments are established for similar situations.

 

We call, on the basis of Articles 34 and 35 of the Romanian Constitution, for the establishment of rules allowing pre-school children, primary school pupils and their parents to decide what is best for the safety of their children and their families and not to impose a decision that may expose them to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection.

Launching the Coalition for digital Education

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Launching the Digital Education Coalition

Today, 8 October 2019, the signatory organisations are launching the Digital Education Coalition – an informal endeavour that aims to support the development of quality digital education in Romania and the adaptation of the educational offer so that it Prepare children and young people to transform society and the labour market under the impact of technological trends. EC proposes its digital education coalition:

  • -To be a voice of organisations (formal or informal, public or private) working in the field of digital education;
  • -To be a dialogue partner in relation to the Ministry of National Education, the Government of Romania, members of the Romanian parliament and local and central public authorities, as well as with other institutions, organisations or companies interested in education Digital
  • -To contribute, through active organisations, to the extension and consolidation of non-formal training in the field of digital education and inclusion in the educational equation, together with schools, library spaces, Makerspace, Technology hubs, etc., which represent territories of knowledge complementary to formal education;
  • -Provide the resources, experience gained so far and share good practice, already tested, in the digital field, both teachers and pupils.

  The organisations that initiated this approach are: Coder Dojo Bucharest Association, E-Civis Association, National Association of Romanian Libraryers and libraries, Association for Creative STEM Education (CRESTEM), Techsoup Association, ECDL ROMANIA, the Federation of Romanian Community Foundations and the EOS-Educating for an Open Society foundation. The eight organisations promote digital education among pupils and young people through concrete and varied activities, contributing to the development of this type of education in Romania. Thus, the signatories formed in this area about 1,500 teachers from Romania, conducted lessons with about 18,000 pupils, including rural areas, and managed to mobilise alongside them and human resources outside the education system Involving more than 250 mentors in their work. The signatory organisations are launching this on the occasion of the EU programming Week-an initiative on the strand of grass that each of the signatory organisations supports, which aims to bring digital programming and competences out of the reach of everyone, In a fun and engaging way. Europe Code Week is part of the Digital Education Action Plan adopted by the European Commission by the year 2020 and is already at the 7th edition.   For further information, please contact: Ana-Maria Stancu, president of the E-Civis Association, 0721 678 764, ana-maria@e-civis.eu Ştefan Rădulescu, president of the CRESTEM Association, 0726 103 246, stefan@crestem.org Gabriela Ford, Director, foundation EOS, 0744 770687, Gabriela.Ford@eos.ro Elena Coman, program Director, Techsoup Association, elena.coman@asociatiatechsoup.ro

The most innovative civic education program

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E-Civis Association launches today, February 20, the most innovative civic education program in Romania, but not only. Starting from the practical experience of the organization and the premise that civic education is a fairly abstract and complex subject for children, E-Civis combines in the framework of the Civic Education Project 4.0 both the extensive experience in the civic field and the knowledge of recent years in the field of digital education.

Basically, Civic Education 4.0 is a pilot project to use follow the line robots to explain concepts and to help internalize information about public institutions in Romania and public budgets by youth. This pilot will be conducted within the #RoboHub – the digital education space of the E-Civis Association – and in schools in Ilfov, Pitesti, Focşani, Constanţa.

“The E-Civis Association was founded on an idea in which we firmly believe: technology is a tool – it depends on us how we use it. We use it in digital education projects to give equal opportunities to technology and access to the labor market of the future for all children, and in the framework of the Civic Education 4.0 project to transmit information, relatively difficult to understand and remember to young people. “– Ana-Maria Stancu, president of the E-Civis Association.

The Civic Education 4.0 project has a duration of 6 months, is conducted in partnership with the Foundation for the Right to Education and is carried out with the financial support of the Civic Innovation Fund, a programme developed by the Foundation for civil society Development in Partnership with Romanian-American Foundation and supported by Enel Romania and Ursus Breweries.

For further information please contact Ana-Maria Stancu, president of the E-Civis Association, on the phone: 0721 678 764 or e-mail: ana-maria@e-civis.eu.

700 experts in robotics from around the world are meeting in Bucharest in March

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In the period 20-22 March 2019 the capital of Romania will host for the first time the most prestigious event in the field of robotics in Europe. The tenth edition of the European Robotics Forum will take place at the JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel, will gather over 700 robotics experts from around the world and will be organized over 50 workshops on various topics related to robotics or Related areas of robotics, such as:

  • Innovative robots for the automotive industry
  • Robots in the agriculture industry,
  • Robotics and Big Data,
  • Robotics and A.I.,
  • Ethics in the field of robotics,
  • Security, etc.

The event, which takes place for the first time in a country in Eastern Europe, is organized under the High Patronage of the President of Romania and under the patronage of the Romanian Presidency at the Council of the European Union. By hosting the European Robotics Forum, Romania sends a clear message regarding the interest and capacity of our country to be an important player in the field of future technologies and especially robotics.

The forum is also a good opportunity for the entrepreneurial and innovation community in Romania to manifest its desire and willingness to be part of a European Union that supports new technologies and is ready to keep up with them To make them for the benefit of its citizens.

Full information about the event is available on the website: www.erf2019.eu, and the program of the 50 work-shops of robotics and related domains, can be consulted here: https://www.eu-robotics.net/robotics_forum/upload/erf2019/programme-erf-2019_21.01.20191.pdf

For further details, the contact person is Ana-Maria Stancu, President of the Association

E-Civis, local event organizer, Phone: 0721 678 764 E-mail: ana-maria@e-civis.eu.

About Eurobotics and SPARC

Eurobotics is a non-profit organisation based in Brussels that aims to develop robotics for the benefit of the European economy and society. With over 250 members, EuRobotics offers the robotic community the tool called SPARC, collaboration in public/private partnership with the European Commission. (www.eu-robotics.net)

SPARC, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the European Commission and Eurobotics, is a European initiative to support and develop European leadership in the civil robotics industry. Its aim is to position strategic European robotics in the world, thus bringing major benefits for the European economy and society.

SPARC is the world’s largest research and innovation programme in the field of civil robotics, with 700 million Euro funding from the European Commission in the period 2014 – 2020 tripled by European industry, thus reaching a total investment of 2.8 billion of the Euro. SPARC will continue to stimulate and support a community in the increasingly vibrant and efficient robotics that collaborates with a view to developing successful technological transfer and commercial exploitation in all regions. (WWW.EU-ROBOTICS.NET/SPARC).

Civic Education 4.0.

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Civic Education 4.0 is an innovative project not only for Romania but also for other countries and aims to inform young people about the functioning of public institutions in Romania.

The project has proposed to take concepts from civic education, such as decision-making, participatory budgeting, institutional system and to explain to students in a visual and practical way so that they understand that information, to internalise it and to Retina and in the future.

The aim of the project "Civic Education 4.0" was to form young people from Romania as active and involved citizens, prepared to act as actors in the local and central decision-making process.

  1. Informing young people in Romania about the decision-making process in the main public institutions (Parliament, Local Council, mayors) through new and innovative methods.
  2. Informing young people in Romania about the means through which they can be involved in the decision-making process of public institutions.

Direct beneficiaries:

  • 300 students from 10 schools in the counties of Agres, Constanta, Vrancea, Ilfov and Bucharest
  • 200 children from robotics courses in Robohub
  • 10 Teachers of civic education and/or ICT in schools
  • 4 Local robotic partner clubs

Materials made in this project: folding the decision-making process in Romania and folding the involvement of citizens in the elaboration of the local budget. Each of the schools visited received a set of boards and Ozobots in the project to use in other demonstration lessons.

OK Center Romania has been a partner in this project and has helped us to transpose into an easy-to-understand format and present to the pupils the public budget part.

The Civic Education Pilot Project 4.0 was conducted with the financial support of the Civic Innovation Fund, a programme developed by the Civil Society Development Foundation in partnership with the Romanian-American Foundation and supported by Enel Romania and Ursus Breweries (www.inovarecivica.fdsc.ro).

The million dollars robot in coming to Bucharest at the largest robotics meeting in Europe!

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Between March 20-22, 2019, Romania will host the largest robotics event in Europe: the European Robotics Forum - the robotics annual meeting place bringing together over 1,000 researchers, engineers, managers and a number more and more entrepreneurs and business people across the continent.

Participants in this event will be able to meet with TALOS - the $ 1 million bipedal humanoid robot made by the European PAL Robotics start-up, will see collaborative robotic arms in operation, observe smart hands at work, learn the latest news from robotics research and, in particular, will be able to discuss partnerships in cross-border research projects under Horizon 2020.

Super Early Birds tickets have already been put on sale, and the deadline until they can be bought at nearly half the price is January 11: www.eu-robotics.net/robotics_forum/registration.

The European Robotics Forum is organized by euRobotics under the umbrella of SPARC, a public private partnership for the development of robotics in Europe. ERF 2019 is hosted by the E-Civis Association, in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Bucharest and the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science.

About euRobotics and SPARC

 

euRobotics is a non-profit organization based in Brussels that aims to develop robotics for the benefit of European economy and society. With more than 250 members, euRobotics offers the robotics community the SPARC tool for public / private partnerships with the European Commission. (Www.eu-robotics.net)

SPARC, the public private partnership (PPP) between the European Commission and euRobotics, is a European initiative to support and develop European leadership in the civilian robotics industry. Its purpose is to position Europe's robotic strategic in the world, thus bringing major benefits for the European economy and society.

SPARC is the world's largest research and innovation program in the field of civil robotics, with a € 700 million grant from the European Commission in the period 2014-2020, three-fold by European industry, thus reaching a total investment of € 2.8 billion . SPARC will continue to stimulate and support an increasingly vibrant and efficient robotics community that collaborates to develop successful technology transfer and commercial exploitation in all regions. (Www.eu-robotics.net/sparc)

For more information, please contact us: ana-maria@e-civis.eu or by phone 0721 678 764, contact Ana-Maria Stancu, President, E-Civis Association.

 

The Romanian Presidency at the Council of EU can be the proper moment to promote Romanian innovation

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E-Civis Association and the National School for Political and Administrative Studies (SNSPA) organized on Monday, December 10 th, 2018 the round table "The Impact of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence on the Future of the European Union" – an event held as a preview before the European Forum of Robotics 2019 organized in Bucharest.

At this meeting participated Victor Negrescu, former Deputy Minister for European Affairs and Member of the European Parliament, SNSPA Lecturer, Iordan Barbulescu, SNSPA Senate Chair, Maria-Manuela Catrina, State Secretary, Ministry of Communications and Information Society, Ana-Maria Stancu , President of the E-Civis Association, Cristi Cucu, Chief Information Officer, Romanian Government, Alex Timis, Public Affairs Director, ANIS, Daniel Rusen, Marketing and Operations Director at Microsoft Romania, Univ. . Dr. Răzvan Bologa, Academy of Economic Studies (ASE), Prof. Univ. Dr. Andrei Dumitriu, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Bucharest, as well as other actors involved in the promotion of robotics in Romania.

During this meeting E-Civis Association launched the Map of Robotics in Romania (www.hartaroboticii.ro), a tool for visualizing the robotics community in our country and was announced the Ambassador of the Romanian Robotic Community in the person of Mr. Victor Negrescu, as an appreciation of his support for the organization of the European Week of Robotics in Bucharest.

"The digital sector already contributes to Romania's economy by 6% of GDP. If we know how to use the financial resources available at European level and the existing competence in the Romanian innovation sector, our country can be one of the main players in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence. In order to be able to fully use the existing potential and to value it properly, we must participate in the European decision-making process in the field. The Romanian Presidency at the EU Council may be an ideal moment to promote Romanian innovation. This is why the organization of the European Forum on Robotics (www.erf2019.eu), a European event, is an important step in this direction, "said Victor Negrescu, Ambassador of the Romanian Robotic Community.

European Robotics Week 2018 – Focus on education!

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This year will be organized for the second time at national level in Romania, the European Robotics Week – 16 – 25 November 2018. This is an initiative of the European robotics network, euRobotics, which takes place in all European countries and aims at promoting the robotics industry and its potential.

During this period, organizations and public institutions will organize various activities designed to promote robotics, programming and STEAM activities in Romania.

The opening of the Robotic Week in Romania will be marked by the National Meeting of Educators in the Field of Robotics, which will take place on Friday, November 16, between 9:00 and 16:00 at OK Center in Bucharest. This meeting has 5 objectives:

  • Emphasize the significant increase that technology has in society and the fact that this also has an impact on education, which must keep up with this technological advance;
  • Promote the activities that are taking place in this respect across the country, but also to draw up a plan for future actions;
  • Promote examples of good practice implemented in schools and robotics clubs that can be replicated by educators across the country;
  • Provide examples of accessible teaching materials that can be used in schools to teach technology and robotics;
  • Present major robotic competitions taking place in Romania, depending on age.

Besides the central event, events will be organized throughout the country, in cities such as Timisoara, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Timişoara, Piteşti, Focsani, Medgidia, Cernavoda, but also in small urban areas such as Băicoi, Cândeşti, Vladimir, Tormac, Pietrari and others.

This year, we also mark the formation of a coalition of civil society networking actors, active either in the field of robotics or in the field of STEAM, which join forces to transmit a strong and united signal: Romania has qualified human resources and a community passionate and involved in many robotics initiatives. The participating organizations in Saptămâna Robotics are: E-Civis Association, Science Fund, Nation Through Education, ECDL ROMANIA, National Association of Librarians and Public Libraries in Romania (ANBPR), Creative STEM Education Association, Robochallenge, Banat IT Association, CoderDojo Romania Network , Techsoup Association, World Robotics Olympiad Romania and National Kids Initiative. Partner organizations will support STEAM robotics and education events during Robotics Week, promote their initiative within the networks they work with, and encourage as many groups as possible to organize robotics events in November. The partner organizations are also urging other NGOs, initiative groups, companies and educational institutions to join this approach.

For further information, please contact Ana-Maria Stancu, National Coordinator of the European Week of Robotics, by phone: 0721 678 764 or by e-mail: ana-maria@e-civis.eu

European Robotics Week – national meeting of educators in the field of robotics

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On Friday, November 16, 2018 at OK Center, in the opening of the European Robotics Week, we are organizing a National meeting of educators in the field of robotics!

We organize this meeting in the first place to meet each other, those who love robots, who teach robotics or who would like to teach robotics. We will invite robotics clubs from the children’s palaces in the country, private robotics clubs, Stiintescu clubs, contests organizers and anyone interested in learning and teaching robotics.

In the meeting there will be organized a series of workshops in which models of courses will be presented, competitions in Romania and, most importantly, will be time to talk about a common passion: digital education.

European Robotics Week is an initiative of EURobotics, started in 2011, aimed at promoting the robotics industry in the countries of the European Union.

The European Robotics Week offers a week of various activities for the general public in Europe, to emphasize the importance of this industry in the most diverse areas. Also, through these activities we want to stimulate students of any age to pursue a technological education, be it programming, robotics, engineering or other areas.

If you organize such events, please register them here.

Hacking for Humanity Hackathon 2018

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E-Civis Association is happy to be able to support, for the second consecutive year, a hackathon that aims to develop solutions for NGOs. Hacking for Humanity Romania 2018 will take place during 2 days – Friday night, June 22, until Sunday evening, June 24 – at DB Connect. The hackathon will host over 15 teams … Read more