The informal financial contributions of the parents for educating their children in 2015 rose by 8% compared with 2012. Though the rate of extension of this phenomenon diminished, the growth tendency wasn’t stopped. The data form part of a sociological survey concerning academic integrity and ethics in general education, which was carried out by the Institute for Public Policy (IPP) in partnership with the Center “CBS-AXA”. The poll covered parents, teachers and twelfth graders.
“CBS-AXA” sociologist Natalia Vladicescu, in a news conference at IPN, said the difference between the informal payments collected in urban areas and in rural ones is very big. Thus, the average informal payment in villages is slightly over 400 lei a year, while in towns it is more than 1,000 lei, being 2.7 times higher.
According to the sociologist, most often informal payments were given for repair works, for presents for teachers, for things needed at school and for additional classes. Almost half of the interviewed parents consider the additional payments are a social norm. 37% believe that by offering such payments, they contribute to improving the conditions in schools.
The study also shows that 70% of the interviewed parents consider their children will enjoy high-quality studies regardless of the additional payments. About 15% of those polled think the students from poor families are disadvantaged because their parents cannot afford to pay additional sums of money.
The questioned teachers said most of the money collected from parents is used for organizing extracurricular activities and celebrations and the students benefit from these.
The poll reveals that the Teacher’s Code of Ethics that was recently adopted by the Ministry of Education is not known by the respondents, including the teachers. Some of the teachers perceive it as a form of pressure and insult. “They are revolted at the fact that one more document is imposed on them. They are considered the most corruptible and think this is a method of denigrating them,” stated Natalia Vladicescu.
IPP programs director Anatol Gremalschi said that by this study the authors wanted to determine the size of informal payments, the causes and public perception of this phenomenon and how the latest laws adopted in the field of education contributed to changing the situation. “The goal is to diminish informal payments in education, to ensure equal chances for all the children to education, regardless of the financial situation, and to also mobilize public opinion in favor of an ethical behavior,” he stated.
The study was carried out in April and covered a sample of 605 parents. The data were also collected through focus groups that involved parents, students and teachers. There were also conducted interviews with representatives of education divisions and school directors. The margin of sampling error is 4%.
