Education Minister Leonid Bujor has dismissed allegations made by the Communist Party that the Ministry of Education seeks to close a number of education establishments without offering alternatives for the students and for the teachers that are to be laid off as a result. Speaking at a news conference, Leonid Bujor explained that the education system was being optimized through absorption procedures. In the case of the 14 educational establishments undergoing reorganization this year, the teachers have not been laid off, as the students are provided with transportation to commute to their new schools. Minister Bujor further explained that the optimization measures target the schools where the number of students is lower than the admissible norm, 12 or fewer in a class. In retort to the Communists' accusations, Leonid Bujor said that the previous government ceased the activity of 43 educational establishments in 4 years. “It is a shame for the Communist representatives to accuse the Ministry of Education of closing schools, especially since these accusations are made by people who were involved in carrying out optimization measures”, said the minister. In addition, Leonid Bujor presented to the reporters a recently declassified document under which the previous government could have laid off 5,000 teachers. There are 1,500 educational establishments in Moldova and 1,300 of them have a capacity of up to 300 students.