The EXPERT-GRUP Independent Analytical Center with the support of Soros-Moldova Foundation/Good Governance Prgramme launches today the first infographic addressing the education sector in Moldova.

While 80% of the citizens in Republic of Moldova are satisfied with the educational system’s performance, the pupils in our country are lagging behind at reading, mathematics and sciences, according to the PISA 2009+ study. In this ranking conducted for 74 countries, Moldova ranked 59th in math, 57th in sciences and 65th in reading. Meanwhile, between 2000 and 2012, Moldova had a very modest rating in terms of the education index calculated by the United Nations Development Program, from 0676 to 0714, compared to Romania (from 0722 to 0821), Ukraine (from 0775 to 0860), or Slovakia (from 0807 to 0870).

In terms of expenditure, in 2012, 7397 billion MDL (with MDL 527.9 million more than in 2011) were allocated on education, representing 20.9% of the National Public Budget’s total expenditure and 8.4% of GDP. Although there is an increase in the current prices, in the past two years, we attest a decline in constant prices in this component of the budgetary spending.

The infographic also presents the evolution over the last decate of the number of students and institutions (2002/03 - 2012/13). Thus, while in 2002/03 an average of 380 students were enrolled in primary and secondary education, in 2012/13 the number decreased by 31% and amounted to 280 students. Meanwhile, for other educational institutions increases were registered in the average number of pupils/students: from 270 to 290 for secondary vocational education institutions; from 240 to 650 for secondary specialized education (colleges) and from 2110 to 3010 for higher education. In the same time, the total number of institutions declined from 1700 to 1500, and the average number of teachers has dropped from 51000 to 44000.

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