MEY presents draft Strategy on Optimising Secondary Education System

The Ministry of Education and Youth worked out and opened for public debate the draft Strategy on Optimising the Network of Secondary Educational Institutions of Moldova covering the period 2008-2015, Info-Prim Neo informs. The general goal of the Strategy is to increase the efficiency of public expenditure by means of optimising the network of secondary educational institutions of Moldova. The Strategy stipulates two basic directions in this respect – to open district schools and reorganise educational institutions by changing their statuses (school-kindergarten, primary school, general school (X, XII grades), vocational schools, other). According to preliminary estimates, 322 pre-university institutions will be reorganised and 83 district schools will be opened to offer better study conditions. Estimated annual expenditures after optimisation will amount to 28.62 mln lei. The saved money could be reoriented to raise the salaries for the employees of the pre-university education system, to provide the educational institutions with the required supplies, to improve performances in education. According to MEY data, at present, the network of secondary educational institutions of Moldova is made up of 1,571 institutions attended by 491,500 students. Compared to the 2000-2001 school year, the number of students went down by 137,800 or by 22%; in towns – by 63,600 or 24%, in villages – by 74,200 or 20%. The number of primary schools decreased by 19 units (16%), of secondary schools (IX grades) – by 6 units (1%), of secondary schools (XI grades) – by 244 units (45%), of special schools for children with physical or intellectual deficiencies – by 3 units (7%). The number of evening schools remained constant. The number of lyceums increased considerably – by 259 units (59%). According to MEY forecasts, in the school year 2014-2015 the number of students will go down by more than 24% compared with the school year 2006-2007, a fact which will diminish all indicators of public expenditure efficiency and will significantly limit the allocations for improving the quality of the educational process, the Strategy draft reads.