All money for education used to pay teachers' wages

The public expenditures for education are not efficiently distributed. The money allocated to education is largely alloted to pay teachers' salaries, which remain smaller than the minimum salary. The conclusion is drawn in a study called “Financing pre-university education”, compiled by experts from the think tank IDIS “Viitorul” and launched on Tuesday, August 26, Info-Prim Neo reports. The research points out that the school education in Moldova has kept the Soviet infrastructure. Although the state allocates more to for education, it is not mirrored in modernizing schools. The schools being revamped is payed for by parents, which contribute with 157+ million lei more than the Government to insure the children's education. This is happening, according to experts, because there is no law regulating who pays for education. The school masters are also described as not having enough skill to manage the school budgets. According to an IDIS “Viitorul” expert, Igor Munteanu, the state does nothing to attract young teachers, especially to village schools. “Only 5% of graduates of teachers' training universities returned to work in their native villages last year,” he said. Speaking on the Education Ministry to allocate money only for the first ten months of the year, Munteanu says the idea worked only last year, when the incomes in the state budget exceeded the expectations, but the idea will prove mistaken for a long term, because “we're on the verge of an economic recession”. Another hot issue of the educational system is the dramatic drop pupils in schools, says the IDIS expert, Veaceslav Ionita. The research shows that in 2015 the number school age children will be twice smaller than in 1995, not taking into account that the birth rate is down in Moldova and some 2,000 children join their parents working abroad. The authors also suggest recommendations. They propose to pass a law, urgently, providing that the financing mechanism works on a national fund, not depending on the political party in power. They suggest to decrease the number of hours in curricula. They propose that the Education Ministry should only deal with licensing schools, as the local authorities should only act as supervisors. The study “Financing pre-university education” was carried out on 32 schools and 12 district Education directions.