After the reform aimed at optimizing the education system was implemented last year, the number of schools decreased by 57, while the average number of students in classes rose from 19 to 20. The information was provided by the Public Policy Institute that took two censuses in schools in order to analyze the effect of the education reform, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a conference, Public Policy Institute researcher Lucia Casap said the teachers younger than 25 represent only 6% of the total and this is worrisome. The number of such teachers in the managerial corps of schools is even loner - 1%. The experts recommend laying emphasis on the promotion of young specialists to executive posts. According to the census data, about 26% of the teachers are of retirement or pre-retirement age. 16% of the teachers of retirement age form part of the institutions’ management. The teachers’ professionalism is also a reason for concern. Half of the teachers have the second teaching degree, while 32% do not have a degree. Only 2% of the teachers have a higher degree. The researchers of the Public Policy Institute determined that the number of students last year decreased especially due to the difficult financial situation of families. The censuses showed that almost 7,000 students went abroad in the summer of 2011. About 70% of them were first-ninth graders. A number of 215 children were out of school last October. Minister of Education Maia Sandu said the reform in education was criticized a lot, but the number of teachers didn’t diminish and the Ministry will make effort to keep the teachers in the system. She stressed that the reform is aimed at optimizing the use of the money allocated for education.