Money allocated for Quality Education in Rural Areas Project could be used more efficiently, audit

The money allocated by the International Development Association (IDA) in support of the Quality Education in Rural Areas Project could be used more efficiently, says an audit report presented by the Audit Office on January 25. The project had been implemented in 2006-2012, with IDA providing over US$10 million in financing, Info-Prim Neo reports. The money was allotted as equity grants to 1,190 schools for purchasing teaching aids and as quality grants to 304 lyceums for buying laboratory equipment, IT and other equipment. According to Sergiu Stirbu, division head at the Audit Office, many of the teaching aids and units of equipment are still packed, while in the districts of Glodeni, Cimislia, Sangerei, and Stefan Voda they haven’t been included in the bookkeeping records. These goods are worth over 1 million lei. School buses were bought within the projects at a price that was over 17 million lei higher than the cost price because the bids weren’t compared with the prices of the producers. “The absence of an explicit program for improving the quality of education when the project was launched and the curriculum drawbacks essentially diminished the impact on the quality of education and the students’ knowledge. The results in the Baccalaureate exams confirm this. The average grade fell from 6.9 in 2008 to 6.6 in 2012, while in some districts it is lower,” it is said in the report Audit Office chairman Serafim Urecheanu said that this project revealed a number of shortcomings, especially in rural education. Minister of Education Maia Sandu said the results of the project could have been better if the reforms in education had been stated earlier. An education decentralization project that will improve cooperation between the Ministry, other central institutions and the local public authorities with the district education divisions is now being finalized. New criteria for assessing the knowledge of students are being worked out.