The number of students over the last few years fell by about 30%, while the budget spending for this sector decreased. In 2014, the budget allocations for education represented 7% of the GDP, shows a study carried out by the independent think tank “Expert-Grup”.
One of the study authors Alexandru Fala explained that this discrepancy is due to the fact that the decrease in the number of students wasn’t accompanied by a similar decline in the number of education institutions and teachers. For example, the number of students in the 2014-2015 academic year fell by 36.5% on 2000-2001, while the number of education institutions and teachers decreased by only 15.7% and, respectively, 21.5%.
According to the expert, a considerable part of the allocations for education is used to cover costs associated with the maintenance of the system, not to improve the education process and increase the salaries of teachers. Though significant budget revenues in Moldova are spent on education, the results are modest. The country now ranks last compared with other states from the region by the utilization of the public funds for education.
