The Education Week is held in the Republic of Moldova for the first time. During April 22-28, various activities, conferences and debates will be staged to address the most important initiatives that the Ministry of Education and Research is working on, as well as the problems faced by the education system. The discussions will be attended by teachers, parents, students, representatives of the private sector, etc., IPN reports.

“The theme of this year’s week, which we hope will become traditional, is “Moldova for Education”. Our goal is to call on the entire society to mobilize and help increase the quality of education in the Republic of Moldova. We have important structural challenges with which we must deal with together,” Minister of Education and Research Dan Perciun told a press conference.

He referred to the PISA scores published in 2023, which show that 50% of the students do not reach a minimum level of proficiency. At the same time, there is a shortage of 7,000 teachers. “We chose this theme in order to recognize the magnitude of the challenges we have in the system and the need to mobilize to solve these problems,” said the minister.

The central topic of discussions will be the network of model schools, which will include 35 educational institutions in each of which investments of up to €2 million will be made so that they meet the standards in the field and ensure high-quality education for all children.

During the Education Week, on April 25, the National Partnership “Moldova for Education” will be launched - an initiative implemented by the Ministry of Education and Research under the patronage of the President’s Office of the Republic of Moldova. The initiative aims to mobilize the entire society, including the business community, to support the improvement of the quality of education. “As part of this effort, we managed to convince more companies to support more model schools, to help strengthen this network. We have over 10 companies that support us in this campaign,” stated Dan Perciun.

The launch of the concept of curriculum development until 2027 is another major topic of the Education Week. The topic that will be discussed with parents this week will include parenting, the major problems faced by teenagers and how parents can respond to these challenges, education through play and many other topics interesting to all.

A day dedicated to the Student Council will be staged to train and encourage students to participate more in the life of the school and community. The Education Week will culminate with an event intended for twelfth graders. About 3,000 young people from Moldova are expected to come to Chisinau and will be encouraged to become teachers.

The Education Week in Moldova is supported by the World Bank, USAID, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, the European Union, the U.S. Embassy.