The roundtable “Financing in Education: Priorities, Needs and Reality”

On April 26, 2018, the Alliance of Active NGOs in the field of Child and Family Social Protection (APSCF), in collaboration with the Foundation for Development, organized the roundtable Financing in Education: Priorities, Needs, and Reality. The purpose of the event was placing on the public agenda the importance of accessing efficient and relevant financial resources by the educational institutions in order to ensure quality in education. The event was mediated by Mariana Ianachevici, Executive Director of AVE Children and member of the APSCF Board.

Ms Victoria Catanoi, Educational Policy Advisor, presented details about the way in witch pre-university education resources are managed with the new funding methodology. Due to the way they have been used, little results have been achieved in balancing spending per student and in improving public spending and transparency in school funding. Therefore, beyond documenting the correct formula for funding the educational institutions, it is important to involve the school managers in budget planning, to adopt a participatory management, to ensure transparency in the decision-making and to include all actors involved in the educational process.

Ms. Mariana Budan, Head of Cahul Psycho-pedagogical Assistance Service, detailed the financing mechanisms of inclusive education, highlighting: the legislative framework, the need for the implementation of inclusive education, the attitudes and values of the people involved in the process. The participants stressed the importance of reviewing the status of the support staff, so as to ensure a fair and equitable remuneration for their work. They also identified the lack of continuity and connection between pre-school and school levels, specifying the importance of introducing provisions on data flow and prognoses on the number of children with SEN from preschool educators towards school level .

Mrs. Lidia Tentiuc, Director of Criuleni Direction of Education and IPLT Magdacesti, spoke from her management experience and argued the importance of correlating financial resources allocated to educational institutions with their priorities and needs. She highlighted the issue of detailing the expenditure planned for the next year’s budget, complicated by the unpredictability of some factors needed to be taken into account in budgeting and implementation. A good functioning of the self-financing method of an educational institution asks for transparency in budgeting and public hearings on budgetary planning, so all who can offer innovative suggestions and proposals for positive change of the educational environment can be heard.

Ms. Gabriela Ojog, Executive Director of the Foundation for Development, spoke about the challenges of the educational partnership and good practices in this area. The educational partnership can be established by all actors interested in ensuring quality education – teachers, students, parents, LPAs, economic agents, citizens and the community. Its foundation is based on mutual trust and communication, both providing a framework for the implementation of positive ideas and practices for improving the functionality of the educational institution.

The event is part of the APSCF’s activities at the Global Education Week #GAWE2018.