The Ministry of Education in September received a number of complaints about the collection of funds in education institutions from parents. Minister of Education Corina Fusu in a press briefing said the parents were asked to give money for paying for textbooks, for food and other needs. In reaction, the Ministry made an order by which the National School Inspectorate is empowered to carry out unplanned inspections at schools and kindergartens, IPN reports.

“The teaching and executive staffs haven’t yet realized that they do not have the right to initiate, take part or contribute to the collection of money from parents or students. I also note the lack of transparency in the management of school budgets and the parents’ low interest in the activity of the education institutions attended by their children,” said Corina Fusu.

The minister noted that the first-fourth graders receive all the textbooks free of charge, without paying rental, while the ABC spelling book is given to the fist graders as a present. The textbook rental for the upper grades is set annually by the Ministry of Education. For the 2016-2017 school year, the rental is 2 to 20.60 lei per textbook, depending on the wear degree and price of the book. The rental for each textbook can be seen on the Ministry’s website.

Corina Fusu said that 33 titles of textbooks in the original and 12 titles in translation were printed with the Ministry of Education’s funds in 2016. These cost 27.4 million lei. The textbooks leased out by the state satisfy the curriculum needs and the parents do not need to purchase other textbooks. Additional teaching aids can be bought by parents voluntarily, while the teachers can recommend them what to buy, not yet to collect money or oblige the parents to purchase notebooks, textbooks or school supplies of particular brands.