Ten schools in Moldova won’t be opening their doors this academic year, as 13 other educational institutions will be reorganized. Minister of Education Dan Perciun says the decision belongs to the district authorities, while the Government’s task is to provide buses so that students can go to other schools nearby.

Of the 10 schools that have been shut down, 5 are located in Sângerei district. The minister says these institutions had just a handful of students.

“This means that students from these schools will have the opportunity to go to educational institutions where they can really learn a foreign language, where they will enjoy extracurricular activities, will have enough teachers to prepare them for the 9th- or 12th-grade exams, which means better chances of better education. Some of these educational institutions had an extremely small number of children. In Sângerei district, we are talking about schools with 19 to 45 children. The alternatives are at a distance of 2 km and 18 km, respectively. Some of these children will go to an excellent school in Sangerei, the Olimp Lyceum. For our part, we will provide school buses to these children”, Dan Perciun told a broadcast on Radio Moldova.

Another 13 educational institutions are going to be reorganized. The minister welcomes the decision of the district authorities who chose this study formula. According to Dan Perciun, merging institutions only means joint administration, without students moving from one school to another.

“The mergers take place in Briceni district. It is a district currently governed by socialists, who have taken this decision to create subsidiaries. A subsidiary means that a very small school in a rural community will be transferred under the jurisdiction of a larger school in the district, while still keeping its physical location. That is, the children won’t have to commute anywhere, but there will be a joint administration. It is an interesting and sensible decision, we have had similar practices elsewhere. It is a decision taken by socialists in Briceni. This speaks of the fact that at the local level, where things are seen best and politicized the least, the best interest of children is put first”, explained Perciun.

According to the Ministry of Education and Research, of the 13 educational institutions that are being reorganized, 10 are in Briceni district and the remainder in Ialoveni and in Căușeni.