The Ministry of Education and Research has developed a forecast of the number of pupils until 2040. According to the average scenario of demographic development, the total number of pupils in Moldova will decrease by 13% by 2030, by 19% by 2035, and by 30% by 2040. In Chisinau, the number of pupils will decrease more slowly – this is where the good news ends.
As of October 2025, 129 schools in the country (11% of the total) have up to 60 students, and 252 schools (21.5%) have up to 90 students. Most of the very small schools, with no more than 30 children, are elementary school or elementary school – kindergartens; there are 61 such institutions in the country. The dynamics towards the reduction of the number of pupils continues.
At the same time, in rural areas 17% of gymnasiums do not meet the minimum requirement of five full grades.
According to the Ministry (and this opinion is shared deep down by even the most critical observers), such a structure is unacceptable for quality education of children. It often leads to “mixed” classes: for example, two first grade and two second grade students study together, and sometimes second and fourth grades are combined, etc.
Big changes in small schools
The draft law amending the Education Code provides that extremely small schools (less than 10 pupils) will operate only as kindergartens. Very small schools (less than 30 pupils) will become “elementary school – kindergartens” and understaffed schools (less than 35 pupils) will become elementary schools. At the same time, upper grades are transferred to larger institutions.
The list of reformed institutions will be approved annually by the Ministry of Education by December 31. This year it is planned to reorganize 73 schools across the country.
“Through these changes, we aim to improve the quality of the educational system,” said Angela Prisacaru, deputy head of the department of the Ministry of Education and Enlightenment, at a meeting of the parliamentary commission for social protection, health and family affairs.
This is sad to realize, hard to accept, but, alas, in this situation, no one has offered anything better yet.
School reorganization: everyone understands everything
That is why even the most irreconcilable opponents have almost reached a consensus on the necessity of changes in schools. Today the argument is not about whether it is necessary or not, but about how to carry out the reform so that the changes would be as painless as possible for children and teachers.
Deputy of the Alternativa bloc Angela Kutasiewicz, in particular, asked why the reform is being carried out from the top down and whether to consider initiatives coming from below. The reformers have no answer to this question yet. One can only guess that it is considered too risky to hand over such a delicate reform to local authorities.
PCRM deputy Inga Sibova said that the situation is really difficult, especially given the shortage of teachers. At the same time, she asked why the ministry chose the path of cuts. After all, in many districts, teachers are ready and willing to work more in order to receive decent pay for their labor. And why the funds that will be “freed up” in 2026 (about 40 million lei) cannot be used to prevent the closure of schools.
Nicolae Margarint from “Our Party” asked whether the schools are ready in terms of logistics, whether there will be enough transportation to transfer pupils to the new institutions. Indeed, this fall, 1,328 out of 2,754 students studying in the schools affected by the reorganization will have to take buses to sit at their desks again.
The road to knowledge
The ministry assures that there will be enough transportation for everyone. The transferred pupils will also receive a monthly allowance of 1000 lei for 9 months for two years. And if there is no alternative within a radius of 20 km, there is no reorganization at all.
It is worth recognizing that there are practically no public censures about the transportation of children. In 2025, it was organized for 460 educational institutions: schoolchildren were transported from 1,127 settlements. These are about 20,400 students of gymnasiums, 3,300 students of lyceum classes. And another 700 kids are kindergarten students!
Last year 570 transportation units were used. The authorities assure that 60 million lei is planned for 2026 to buy 50 more buses.
This is a commendable concern. Still, it is a pity that for so many years the state constantly has to fix, fix, glue something together. We would like it to create together with us, while it still has us. Demographic forecasts for the country as a whole are also disappointing. Logos Press wrote about this recently.
