Representatives of several NGOs have spoken out against amendment to the Regulation for appointing school principals, proposed by the new team at the Ministry of Education. They think the amendment is throwing to waste all the efforts done so far to establish a merit-based system and will expose the education system to greater risks. The 16 NGOs are asking the Ministry to give up the amendment and take urgent steps to implement the selection process of principals according to the regulation adopted in March.
Arcadie Barbarosie, head of the Institute of Public Policies, told a press conference at IPN that the proposed changes are canceling the concept promoted by the previous team at the Ministry. One of the changes is the elimination of the 6 month limit for ad interim terms. NGOs fear that this way ad interim principals can head schools for unlimited periods of time, which increases the risk of inefficient long-term management. Moreover, the principal can always can always be threatened with sacking and blackmailed.
Another change proposed by the Ministry is to eliminate the obligatory examination of the job candidates' skills and their certification by the National School Inspectorate. According to NGO representatives, the online testing of candidates is a procedure than can guarantee the impartiality of examination and would minimize political and corrupt influences. Another contested proposal concerns the annulment of the minimum standards of professional and managerial skills for principal candidates.
Barbarosie is of the opinion that the new team at the Ministry wants to make these changes in order to have political control over the appointment of principals. The latter can then be forced to promote certain behaviors and messages during electoral campaigns. This also allows to put pressure on the principals in order to restore certain corrupt schemes in their institutions.
Cezar Gavriliuc, head of the Center for Information and Documentation regarding Children's Rights (CIDDC), says the current leadership of the Ministry wants to adopt these changes overnight, without consulting civil society and stakeholders. The fact that the amendment was proposed now, when everyone is on holiday, is telling. Gavriliuc thinks such proposals fuel concerns about the future of education reforms.
Among the ONGs that are against the Ministry's amendment are the Alliance of NGOs in the sphere of social protection for children and families, ADEPT, CreDO, Expert-Grup, Motivatie, Transparency International – Moldova and others.
