Ministry: A third of Romanian schools do not have indoor toilets

Around 30% of the schools in Romania do not have indoor toilets, according to an Education Ministry document outlining a strategy to modernize the local educational infrastructure. The situation affects a total of 2,200 schools and over 230,000 students nationwide, Mediafaxreported. The same document notes the difference between rural and urban areas in this respect: 38% of the schools in rural areas are confronted with this situation, compared to 7% of the schools in cities. The absence of indoor toilets in schools is more frequent in the Moldova region of Romania, especially in the north-east counties of Vaslui and Botosani. Both counties are part of Romania’s North-East Development Region, which is also one of the five poorest in the European Union. One in three students in the counties of Vaslui and Botosani do not have access to indoor toilets, while one in four have the same problem in the counties of Vrancea and Teleorman, in southern Romania. At the same time, 56% of the students in Romania learn in overcrowded schools, even though in urban areas 46% of the schools have vacant places, according to Education Ministry data. A total of 10% of the educational units in the country are overcrowded, while 60% of them have unoccupied places. Only 30% of local schools run at an adequate capacity. In urban areas, 14.5% of schools do not have enough places, compared to 8.8% in rural areas faced with this situation. High schools tend to be the most overcrowded, as 14% of them have an insufficient capacity in relation to the school population. Only 2.4% of the primary schools encounter this problem. The Education Ministry warned that the quality of the school infrastructure impacts the students’ results. The strategy on the modernization of the education infrastructure, covering the 2017-2023 period, is under public consultation until November 16. editor@romania-insider.com