Government to devise demographics strategy till November

The Government will draft the strategy and a national plan to improve the demographic situation, till November 1. Such a decision was taken by the Supreme Security Council (SSC) on July 17, Info-Prim Neo has learnt from the President's press unit. At the sitting, they said Moldova is now facing a series of problems related to the demographic safety. They mentioned data mirroring the drop in birth and fertility rates, aging population, the degradation of the family institution, migration, etc. The Government has been charged to update the plan on strengthening the migration and shelter management in 2008-2009, and to implement the public health policy to enhance the fertility rate and life expectancy. The SSC has decided that the Government shall raise the number and increase the efficiency of the health and family planning centers, shall undertake measures to prevent home births, shall entitle the maternities to register the newborns free. The Government shall also modernize the demographic statistics system and the Population Registry. President Vladimir Voronin has reiterated the need to strengthen the primary healthcare system, as well as the educational system in villages. He voices to curb any attempts of closing schools and kindergartens under the pretext of not fully using them. “No school, no kindergarten will be closed, regardless of the number of children attending,” Vladimir Voronin said. According to the Strategy on optimizing the school network, developed by the Education Ministry, 332 schools are to be closed in Moldova, as other 83 so-called “constituency schools” are to be set up. According to the Education and Youth Ministry, there are 1,571 general schools working now attended by 491,500 pupils. Compared with the 2000-2001 scholar year, the number of pupils dropped by 24% in urban areas, and by 20% in villages. According to official forecasts, in the 2014-2015 scholar year, the number of pupils will drop by 24% compared with 2006-2007, what will trigger the diminution of all the efficiency indexes related to the public expenses and the significant restriction of the allocations insuring qualitative education, the draft strategy points out.