During the last 5 years, in both rural and urban areas, a decreasing trend in the number of schools has been registered. The total number of schools reduced from 1580 in the 2002/03 school year to 1539 in 2006/07. About three thirds of the total number of schools operated in the rural area, the National Statistics Bureau reported, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. At the beginning of the 2006/07 school year, primary and secondary education was provided in 1539 institutions of Moldova. In urban area there were 32 primary schools, 54 gymnasiums, 223 lyceums, 61 general secondary schools, 16 schools for children with physical or intellectual disabilities; in villages - 64 primary schools, 614 gymnasiums, 219 lyceums, 235 secondary schools and 21 schools for children with physical or intellectual disabilities. Compared to the 2000/2001 school year, the share of lyceums from the total number of school units increased 2.4 fold, constituting 28.7%, and the share of secondary schools reduced by 16 percentage points. Most of the day schools, gymnasiums, lyceums (98.5%) represent public property. There are 23 private educational institutions in Moldova, including 21 lyceums and 2 gymnasiums. At the beginning of the 2006/07 school year the total number of pupils matriculated in the primary and general secondary education institutions reached the number of 491,500 persons, which is by 4.9% less compared to the previous school year and by 21.9% less than in the 2000/01school year. The absolute majority of students (99.0%) have been registered in public schools. Those 4,300 students from private schools studied in urban area. The percentage of school students who study in Romanian is of 79.5%, in Russian – 20.3% and in other languages – 0.2%. Other studying languages in primary and secondary education are: Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and English.