The informal payments in the education system in the period of the Baccalaureate exams declined from 80 million lei in 2014 to 180 million lei in 2013, Minister of Education Maia Sandu told a news conference. She noted that the diminution of bribery in education is mainly due to the security measures implemented during the Baccalaureate session.

“The solution for eradicating corruption cannot be single. The approaches must be different. We do not say that the high salaries will be a solution for fighting corruption, but the small salaries are a problem. That’s why we this year proposed a new method for remunerating the teachers so as to reduce the pressure of informal payments in the system. The new method is aimed at increasing the competitiveness of teachers’ salaries in comparison with the salaries of the other employees.  It’s not fair to compare the average salary in education with the average official salary in the economy. We also want to introduce a new performance element and to promote thus the teachers who achieve results and make effort in the work they do,” said Maia Sandu.

She also said that the Ministry of Education aims to optimize the costs of the education institutions as, when the money provided by the state is managed efficiently, the pressure on parents, who contribute money for things that the state cannot ensure, will reduce. Therefore, an administration board will be constituted in all the education institutions to monitor how the public money is managed and if the given financial resources are used to meet the real needs of the education institution.