Over 70 schools are set to be reorganized in the Republic of Moldova, following amendments to the Education Code. Minister Dan Perciun announced on Thursday, from the Parliament’s podium, that out of the 73 targeted schools, 63 will remain in villages. In ten cases, where there are fewer than ten students, the schools will cease their activities, reports IPN.
The reorganizations, provided for in the project discussed on Thursday, will affect over 2,700 students. Of these, over 1,300 will need to be transported to other educational institutions.
The opposition criticized the initiative and warned of the risk of depopulation in the villages.
“Put yourself in the situation of a young family who has to choose: to go and settle in a village, in Trifauti, for example, where the school roof leaks, there are two classes, two children per class, and there is no sanitary block. Would you go to the village to settle there and send your children to that school? And now let’s look at another situation: I go to Trifauti as a young family and see that there is a new bus, all conditions are ensured, and in 10 minutes the child arrives at the model school. It is more likely that that family, in the second scenario, would return to Trifauti”, explained the minister.
Dan Perciun added that, if the regional authorities do not reorganize the schools, even the National Anticorruption Center could intervene, because, according to him, such actions would mean an abuse of power.
“I propose that we do not test these situations. We are preparing for them; if there are people here who want to test them, I suggest you do not try to do this. Rather, let’s focus on managing these transitions as best as possible, instead of having to search in the Penal and Contravention Code for articles that explain what non-implementation of the law means,” declared Minister Perciun.
Students who will commute will benefit from school buses and a monthly allowance of 1,000 lei, for two years. Teachers will be reimbursed for transportation costs and will be granted a relocation allowance of 300,000 lei.
