Corruption in education system can be combated, education officials say

The education system is affected by corruption, the authorities admit partially. They say that the will of all the sides involved is necessary in order to fight corruption. On the other hand, representatives of nongovernmental organizations say that the education officials are aware of the gravity of the situation, but pretend not to realize it and shift the blame onto other state institutions, Info-Prim Neo reports. Though he says he personally never dealt with corruption, [Andrei Grosu, the head of the Education, Youth and Sport Division of Chisinau’s Rascani district] admits that this phenomenon did not avoid the education institutions, but certain things are sometimes confused. “The roots of corruption are not in the education system, but in some other place. The teachers give additional lessons for payment, which is mixed up with bribe. These lessons should be legalized so that there are no more suspicions,” Andrei Grosu said. “First of all, the teachers should be paid decent salaries and then there will be no corruption in the education institutions,” he said, stressing yet that a number of measures have been taken to reduce corruption. “The attitude of the young generation, the students and even the young teachers, in the fight against this phenomenon gladdens me.” [The head of the Education Policy Assessment and Monitoring Division of the Ministry of Education and Youth Tudor Cojocaru] considers that the situation has improved slightly. Asked what policies the Ministry pursued to make the situation better, he enumerated the creation of an interactive section about the prevention and combating of corruption in the education system on the Ministry’s website and the opening of a hotline for reporting corruption cases. Tudor Cojocaru also said that a series of measures were taken to improve transparency in the organization of graduation exams and admission to higher education establishments: all the materials concerning the organization of the exams were published on the Government’s website; a number of seminars were held for all the factors involved; employees of the Ministry participated in a number of TV and radio programs. “We cannot say that there is no corruption in the education system because this phenomenon is widely spread in the society and education is a sector with great social implications. Thus, this phenomenon can emerge here and there,” the representative of he Education Ministry said. The rooting out of corruption depends not only on teachers or education officials, but also on parents and students, who must fulfill their obligations: to study in accordance with the curricula programs, achieve goods results and not look for ways out by offering bribe or other things regarded as bribe. “Corruption in the education system is a stick with two ends and it must be rooted out of the mentality of the whole society.” [Maria Smileanscaia, director of the Kindergarten No. 159 located in Rascani district of Chisinau] said that the kindergarten cannot work without the support of the parents because the state and the City Hall do not provide assistance. “The funds allocated to the education institutions must be larger in order to eliminate corruption. The parents decide by themselves if they want to help the administration; we ask nothing from them,” she said, adding that there is no corruption in the institution she heads. “Other organizations might witness corruption, but ours does not.” [Tatiana Nagnibeda-Tverdohleb, the head of the General Division of Education, Youth and Sport,] said that it is difficult to identify cases of corruption. “The number of anonymous complaints from parents has decreased. We inquired at the meetings with parents, but it is hard to discover such cases because some of the parents make accusations, while the others provide arguments, denying the accusations,” Tverdohleb said. She considers that both the parents and the teachers started to be more responsible and observe the internal regulations formulated by parent associations or parent committees. [Andrei Lutenco, director of the National Center for Transparency and Human Rights], says that no new mechanisms were introduced in the education system and no new entities were constituted to prevent corruption. “The authorities say that this is not within their competence as this is the duty of the bodies that investigate cases of corruption. They are aware of the problem, but remember it only when it is convenient to do so,” Andrei Lutenco said. According to him, a study carried out in 2008 among students and teachers shows that the teachers do not admit to taking bribe, but do not deny the existence of corruption in Moldova. They said they only “heard that some of their colleagues take bribe”. Asked if the publication of materials about the organization of exams can help combat corruption, Andrei Lutenco said that this should be done not necessarily in order to combat corruption, but to inform those interested. “Some of the universities publish the lists of the admitted students and this fact is welcomed. But not all the institutions do this and this is not enough for combating corruption. Also, the contestations that the students have the right to file are purely formal because these students do not have the possibility of comparing their works with the works of their colleagues as they are confidential,” he said. Moldova’s Threshold Country Program is a two-year $24.7 million initiative funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation and managed by the United States Agency for International Development. The overall program goal is to assist the Government of Moldova in effecting policy and system reforms to promote good governance and reduce corruption. The successful implementation of the program will help Moldova qualify for the full MCC assistance.