"Functional Illiteracy: Barrier to the Sustainable Development of Romania – Republic of Moldova Cross-Border Area"

Amid computer science advancements, a major problem many states deal with is, paradoxically, functional illiteracy. This phenomenon accounts for socio-educational and economic problems of contemporary society that, if unsolved, in the medium and long term, can have serious effects on the future development of societies. The prevention and fight against functional illiteracy require specialized mobilization, on multiple sectors. On the PISA 2022 performance scale, the share of students with low performance in basic skills remains high, 42% for Romania and 44.3% for the Republic of Moldova (among the highest in the European Union). If the European Union is aiming to lower the functional illiteracy rate among 15-year-olds to below 15% by 2020, Romania and the Republic of Moldova are far from such an ambitious target. Both countries are aiming to lower this rate to 25% by 2030. In this context, a large part of future generations in the two countries are functionally and socially illiterate due to the lack of primary education, which will be a catastrophe for the labour market, businesses and economy in the future. We present a brief analysis of the functional illiteracy characteristics in Romania and in the Republic of Moldova among 15-year-old students. A comparative analysis of the functional illiteracy rates of students in the two countries, considering the PISA test in the period 2006–2022, was conducted, as well as of this phenomenon's effects on the future development of these countries, in general, and on the cross-border area, in particular.