Around 380,000 schoolchildren have attended today First Bell ceremonies marking the first day of the academic year. For 35,000 of them the school bell rang for the first time in their lives. The school year starts with a course dedicated to “Ion and Doina Aldea-Teodorovici: Champions of National Ideals”, where the teachers will pay homage to the late singers. The teachers will also explain to the pupils the significance of the national symbols, including the flag, the coat of arms and the anthem. The Ministry of Education informed in a press release that of the total number of children attending school, 140,000 attend elementary school (grades 1-4), 180,000 attend middle school (grades 5-9), and 59,000 attend high school (grades 10-12). Nearly 40,000 teachers work in the 1,460 schools across the country, and 25 percent of them are pensioners. In the 2012/13 school year, about 700 young specialists will join the ranks of teachers. Starting September 1, 27 educational institutions will undergo optimization and 48 other will be reorganized. As a result, 4,430 pupils in optimized institutions will be provided with school bus services, adding to the about 7,000 pupils in institutions that were optimized in previous years. The Moldovan education system includes 1,460 pre-university institutions, 1,400 pre-school institutions, 66 vocational education institutions, 46 collegiums and 34 universities.