Lack of teachers is still a problem for Moldova

The lack of teachers in the educational system is still a serious problem for Moldova. At the moment there is a deficit of 1624 teachers. PM Vasile Tarlev told a meeting with the heads of local public authorities and raion Education Departments that the indemnities for the young specialists distributed all over Moldova are paid in time, but the facilities are offered to the young specialists with delays or are not offered at all. Out of 1459 education institutions, only 855 (58.6%) are fully prepared to start the new school year. In only 4 raions, the eating halls are one hundred percent prepared. Another problem of the authorities is the capitalisation of the financial means for repairs. According to the PM, of those MDL 92 mln planned by the local public authorities only MDL 39 mln are being capitalised. In what concerns the current repairs, of the planned sum of MDL 36 mln, only MDL 23 mln is capitalised at present. About 80% of the school equipment has exceeded the operation period and almost a half of the furniture is shabby and does not comply with the sanitary standards. The PM asked the responsible persons to finish all the current and capital repairs of the education institutions by August 27, 2007; to provide all the pre-higher institutions with water; offer all the necessary materials to the education institutions; create proper conditions for the activity and housing of the young specialists so that they are motivated to work in the field; implement moral and material motivation means for achievements, both for teachers and students etc. The school year 2007-2008 will start on Monday, September 3.