The number of lyceums in Moldova must be reduced by at least one third because a part of them do not ensure education of a high quality, former Minister of Education Anatol Gremalschi, who is now the program director of the Institute of Public Policy, said in the talk show “Moldova live” on the public TV channel Moldova 1, IPN reports.

According to Gremalschi, the number of lyceums over the last few years rose three times to almost 600 at a time when the number of lyceum students fell by 30%. “The people wanted to have a lyceum closer to their homes, but didn’t think about the quality of education in such lyceums. In many rural lyceums, there are not enough children for forming a class. Namely the students of such lyceums failed the Baccalaureate exams last year. University teachers say that after surveillance cameras were installed at the Baccalaureate exams the last two years, well trained students apply to be enrolled at higher education establishments. However, half of the lyceum graduates failed the exams. I think they lost time,” said the former minister.

Anatol Gremalschi considers such lyceums alter the professional orientation of young people. “The task of lyceums is to prepare students for higher education institutions. I think this task is not carried out. Studies show that only 60% of the Moldovans work according to their qualifications,” he stated.

As to the professional orientation, Gremalsci noted that the young people are confused and cannot choose a profession. “Almost nothing is done in this respect. Most of the lyceums lack school psychologists, while the class masters are not interested in fulfilling such a duty because they are not paid for doing class master work,” he said.