DISINFO: In two years Maia Sandu has closed hundreds of schools in Moldova
SUMMARY
In more than two years, the youngest pro-European minister (Maia Sandu) has closed 119 schools, 4 universities and 17 research centers.
The remaining schools (slightly more than a thousand) were ordered by the Ministry of Education to become “economically profitable”: to attract external funding (and exclusively European and American; contacts with the Russian Embassy immediately aroused the attention of the security authorities), to lease premises to local entrepreneurs. The “optimization” launched by the current president means that schools have continued to close even after she left the post of minister.
RESPONSE
Disinformation claim about the current Moldovan president Maia Sandu and the pro-European government of Moldova.
The false claim that Maia Sandu closed hundreds of schools during her mandate as Minister of Education (July 2012 - July 2015) is frequently circulated, including during election periods. The claim is now used in the context of the announced medical reform in Moldova, aiming to induce the fear that that the same ”fate” awaits hospitals.
The Ministry of Education of Moldova, contacted by the StopFals.md portal in March 2023, stated that 119 schools were indeed closed, as part of the optimisation reform of several budgetary institutions as a result of decrease in the number of students. The decisions were taken by local administrations. The optimisation of schools was already foreseen in the Concept of optimising the number of employees in the budgetary sector in the years 2008-2010, proposed by the Ministry of Economy in 2007, a ministry then led by the socialist Igor Dodon (the former Moldovan president).
The claim that the schools were forced to attract funding from European and American organizations is made without evidence. The Education Code (Art. 8), adopted in 2014, provides that "in the educational system, social dialogue and partnership between educational institutions and research institutions, with trade unions, with the business environment, with civil society and with the mass media, is encouraged."
In Moldova, the closure of schools in rural areas continues, due to the reduction in the number of students. In January 2023 the Ministry of Education stated for the National Radio Station that in the 2022-2023 academic year, 13 schools ceased their activity due to the lack of students. The decisions to close them were taken by the local administrations, which, according to the Education Code (art. 21), have the capacity of founders of these institutions, the Ministry having only the competence to monitor the implementation of policies in the field of education. More details can be found on StopFals.md.
See here a similar case about Maia Sandu.