The informal payments in general education institutions during the past few years doubled in value, from 541.5 million lei in 2015 to 1.130.9 billion in 2017. These payments in 2017 represented about 17% of the budget allocated to general education by the state, shows a sociological study conducted by the Institute for Public Policy in partnership with the Center for Sociological Investigations and Marketing „CBS-AXA”.
In a news conference at IPN, expert in educational policies Anatol Gremalski, one of the authors of the study, said a family annually pay almost 3,400 lei informally at school. Since 2015 the informal payments have almost doubled. “We reached the conclusion that we can adopt very good t laws and regulations, but they do not have the expected effect for multiple causes. I remind that the Education Code and the Code of Ethics ban the acceptance of presents, teaching of additional classes to pupils, favoring of grades, undeserved promotion at contests and so on,” stated the expert.
According to the study, about half of the parents said the informal payments in schools represent a financial burden for their families. The other half said such payments are acceptable for them and some of the parents are ready to pay event more. About 25% of the parents pay informally of their own free will. Among the parents who do not pay on their own initiative, 12% of the respondents said the informal payments are asked by teachers, 17% by the parents’ committee and 3% by school principals.
Besides repair works and goods needed at school, the informal payments also go to pay for registration at the institution, to increase teachers’ salaries, to have additional classes, to buy presents for teachers, etc. Each tenth parent perceives the additional payments as a means for attracting academic favors, such as higher grades, participation in contests, merit diplomas and increased attention from teachers. The phenomenon could be diminished by ensuring the proper implementation of the Teacher’s Code of Ethics and by changing the mentality of particular categories of parents.
In 2015, only 6% of the parents refused to answer the questions about the payment or non-payment of such taxes, but now the figure stands at 34%. Each third parent fears the non-payment of the fees asked at school will have negative repercussions for the own child. “We interpreted this as follows: it was said that this is banned and the teacher will be punished for this and the parents do not want to reveal details. They refuse to take part in the study. In other words, the phenomenon in society exists, but cannot be found on the public agenda and is not discussed,” stated Anatol Gremalski.
The study “Academic ethics and integrity in general education. Informal payments in schools” was carried out with financial support from the Education Support Program of the Open Society Foundations through Soros Foundation Moldova. The study results are representative nationwide with a margin of sampling error of ±4% and are comparable with similar studies conducted in 2006 and 2012.
