The repair works in education institutions this year will center on the access ways and on the transfer of sanitary facilities from yards to school buildings. The equipment of classrooms with benches for first graders is another priority.

Contacted by IPN for a comment, head of the General Education Division of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research Valentin Crudu said the repair works in education institutions are within the remit of the local public authorities, but the Ministry collects information and sets the objectives. It was estimated that about 450 million lei is needed for repair works and this money is allocated from the local budgets.

The Ministry recommended that the investments should be first directed to infrastructure so as to repair the access ways to schools, taking into account the needs of students with reduced mobility and those who are in wheelchairs. Special attention will be devoted to the building of sanitary facilities inside schools. Currently, 10% of the kindergartens and 30% of the schools have toilets outside.

Valentin Crudu said the heating systems will be rehabilitated where need be. The previous years, emphasis was placed on the repair of roofs. This year there will be renovated only the roofs affected by the heavy rain.

As regards the furniture for schools, each student who goes to school for the first time this year will have a new bench. “The state provides the first graders with free textbooks, while the local authorities should appropriately outfit the classrooms for them,” stated Valentin Crudu, adding tablet PCs will be bought for first graders for being used when teaching the module “Digital Education” that was introduced last year. The tablet PCs bought earlier will be used by second graders.

As many as 1,650 to 1,700 classes of first graders are to be created for the 2019-2020 school year. Their exact number will become known after September 1.