Municipality concerned about art schools condition

The Municipal Department for Culture calls attention of the local authorities to the deplorable condition of the art schools in Chisinau. According to the Department’s head Leonid Gorceac, the “V. Poleacov” art school experiences the worst situation. Gorceac says that even though the school is not one of the oldest, the building was erected on loose soil which “sucks down the school”. To reinforce the building, the Chisinau Municipal Council is to grant about 4 million lei. A similar situation is experienced by the “A. Starcea” art school. Far from being in good condition, this is one of the 10 art schools in Chisinau that need urgent repairs. Gorceac says that, in compliance with a Government decision, tuition fees in such schools should constitute 30% of their expenditures. But given that such an establishment needs about 4 million lei for repairs alone, this provision is ineffective. That is why the Department submitted to the local authorities a draft to increase tuition fees in art schools. According to Gorceac, the monthly average tuition fee ranges at present between 70 and 80 lei. The draft submitted to the City Council suggests increasing tuition fees to 100-150 lei. Another demand of the Department is to endow school arts with new textbooks, as their students are currently using Soviet-era, xerox-copied, and Romania-imported schoolbooks. Annually, the school arts in Chisinau are attended by about 3,500 students. About 10-15% graduates choose to continue their studies in specialised higher education institutions.