This year around 33,000 children will become first graders, or by some two thousand fewer than last year. Valentin Crudu, department head at the Ministry of Education, told IPN the demographic factor is the main responsible for this situation.

Even if families leaving abroad also play a role, declining birth rates seem to be the leading cause. Several years ago some 45,000 children were enrolled in first grade each year. Now the number has dropped by about 30%.

However, Crudu added that the 33,000 number is just and estimation and is not final. After 7-year-olds are enrolled, the number could increase with the enrollment of 6-year-olds on the request of their parents. The final and accurate number would be known by mid-September.

All the first graders will receive their primers as a gift and the State Budget has allocated 1.6 million lei for this purpose.

In 2015, about 35,000 thousand children were enrolled in first grade, 28,000 of whom went to Romanian-language schools.