In the course of 2017, 20 schools have improved the social accountability indicator for the education reform within the initiative “My School” that is implemented with the assistance of the World Bank. The parents whose children attend the 20 schools are now more interested in the performance of the education institution and are more involved in the programs that this implements.

The results of the fourth year of implementation of the initiative were presented by the independent think tank “Expert-Grup”, which implements the program, in a news conference. Ana Popa, coordinator of the initiative, said that several thousand brochures about the school budget were distributed in the communities where the 20 schools are located to increase the people’s interest in the use of public money.

Other activities included the filling out of involvement forms by students, parents, teachers and the local authorities to state the level of satisfaction with the education process, analyses of school budgets and public hearings on these. As a result, the parents started to show increased interest in the performance of schools and quality of education.

Alexandru Fala, programs director at “Expert-Grup”, said there was carried out a study of the perception of the quality of education services in the 20 schools. According to the study, 48.47% of the interviewed students are fully satisfied with the quality of education, while 48.35% are partially satisfied. 57.44% of the questioned parents said they are fully satisfied with the quality of education, while 40.74% said they are partially satisfied.

Asked if the costs correspond to the needs and priorities of schools, 46% of the surveyed parents said they do, while 47% said they correspond partially. To the same question, 37% of the teachers responded ’yes’, while 54% ‘partially’. 

The initiative “My School” aims to involve the citizens in the creation of a more efficient, more transparent and better school. It was launched in 2014 and will end in 2018. The contest to choose another 20 schools that would benefit from the initiative’s services next year was closed recently.