Aspects of human education and development in the Republic of Moldova.
Pribac, Loredana-Ioana ; Bucur, Oana Nicoleta
1. INTRODUCTION
Human development involves the possibility to live a long and
healthy life, it involves education, resources suitable for a decent
lifestyle, participation in the social and political life of the
society, the freedom of expression. Human development involves
investment in human capital, especially in the increase of its quality,
which also means the increase of the capability of people to efficiently
and creatively participate in the process of economic development, to
adjust their way of consumption to the standards of environmental
protection and to learn to live in harmony with nature. On the other
hand, human development cannot be achieved without material and
financial resources, so that economic development represents a condition
for human development, this relation of dependence being stronger and
more obvious than the one which takes place in the other direction.
International experience proves that at equal economic development
levels there are different levels of human development.
Within human development, "the engine" is represented by
human lives. The resources, the incomes, the political and social
institutions and securities are means and purposes of the policies of a
vital importance.
An educational system which aims to support human development has
to do much more than just focusing on reducing the number of cases of
school abandonment. Enrolment is just the first step and a necessary
(but insufficient) condition to ensure human development. The second
step is using knowledge and the third one is the ability of an
educational system to teach pupils and students how to learn. Only after
these three steps are met does an educational system meet sufficient
conditions to promote a process of human development, which extends the
real liberties of people (Unterhalters, 2009).
According to the theory of human capital, education plays an
instrumental role in economic growth. Education provides people with the
productive skills required by a modern and complex economic system.
Thus, education represents an investment which produces economic
benefits.
In Sen's opinion (Sen, 1992), the approach through the
perspective of human development and capability gives education three
roles and they are the following: the instrumental role, the ability
role and the re-distributive role.
Investment in human capital is distinctively influenced by a series
of factors which regard: the length of the revenues flow, the costs
involved and the differences between the wins expected to be obtained
(Suciu, 2000).
-The economic efficiency of investment in human capital depends on
the moment when the investment is made, that is on the
"length" of the revenues flow. To an investment in human
capital made later on during the active life corresponds a small present
net value and a low internal rate of recovering the investment in human
capital, because there will be less years left for that person to
benefit from that particular investment. As compared to young people,
older people have less time to benefit from the advantages of the
instruction and to recover the amount of money spent during the
instruction.
-The smaller the costs of the investment in human capital, the
higher the number of people which consider this investment to be
profitable.
-If the differences between the wins obtained by the high school
and faculty graduates are big, the number of those who will continue to
invest in human capital will also be big and they will attend a
university.
The process of learning takes place along the whole life of a
person. In this direction, the European legislation identifies 8
key-skills: communication in the native language; communication in
foreign languages; skills in mathematics and elementary skills in
science and technology; computer skills; the ability to learn the way of
learning; social and civic skills; initiative and entrepreneur spirit;
cultural conscience and expression.
2. THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
The links between the professional instruction system in the
Republic of Moldova and the labour world are very feeble. Consequently,
about 36% of the total of population in the age category 25-34, who are
active in work don't have formal studies of professional
instruction. The graduates of the professional instruction institutions
are facing great difficulties in the employment process, only 30% of
them working according to their qualifications obtained in vocational
schools, colleges and universities.
The present structure of the education system does not stimulate
instruction throughout life and does not offer possibilities to certify the skills obtained during the work activity.
In the beginning of the decade, one succeeded in modernizing the
study plans and programmes, but, later on, still, the interference of
the political elements considerably limited the autonomy of the
education institutions.
The main obstacles in the development of the education system are
the hyper-centralisation of the educational system, the inefficient use
of the resources, the diminishment of the role of direct beneficiaries
in the administration of the education institutions, the lack of
connections with the labour world and the persistence of a management
based more on the process than on results.
In compliance with the Programme of the United Nations for
Development in Moldova "Human education and development: current
and perspective challenges", Chisinau 2010, an essential reform of
the educational system should be based on the following principles:
-decentralisation;
-the autonomy of the education institutions;
-making the education institutions responsible; this involves
officialising an external evaluation and accreditation independent from
the authorities in the education domain, the increase of the role of the
direct and indirect beneficiaries of the education system in assessing
the achievements of the education institutions;
-implementing a management based on results which would redirect the educational system towards the needs of the direct and indirect
beneficiaries of education;
-strengthening partnerships;
-opening the educational system; that means that any education
institution and the whole system are accessible to any person,
irrespective of their ethnic background, language, religious beliefs,
physical abilities etc.
What's important is that the new normative-judicial frame
being elaborated assigns no longer explicitly or implicitly to the state
the role of sole beneficiary of the educational process, but that it
puts an emphasis on the development of skills. In case a change like
this does not occur, it is unlikely that the speeding up of human
development and the achievement in the Republic of Moldova of the
Objectives of Development of the Millennium in education take place.
It is known that the access to education and its quality depends a
lot on the financing of the education system. An analysis of the
international statistic data which characterizes the proportion of the
public expenses in the GDP, assigned to the education sector, highlights
that the Republic of Moldova, according to the values of this indicator,
is on the 7th position among the Baltic countries and the CIS countries and on the 31st position among the European countries. In comparison to
the neighbour states, in the years 2002-2005, the proportion of the
public expenses for education in the GDP in the Republic of Moldova
(4,3%) was greater than that of Romania (3,4%) and smaller than that of
Ukraine (6,4%).
During the years 2000-2008, the authorities of the Republic of
Moldova ensured a constant growth of the financial means assigned to the
education system. But this growth was not followed by a growth of the
gross rate of enrolment in all the levels of education. Thus, during the
years 2005-2008, the proportion of the public expenses for education in
the GDP increased from 6,8% to 8,2%, but exactly during these same years
the gross rate of enrolment in all levels of education dropped from
71,7% to 69,8%.
3. CONCLUSION
The aim of research was to point out the relationship between
education and economic development in Republic of Moldova. Statistical
data were the basis for research.
Republic of Moldova met a strong growth during the years 2006-2008,
accompanied by signs of boom. There was an increase, stimulated by
foreign investments, but the global economic crisis caused a strong
weakening of the economy.
The state made considerable efforts for financing the educational
system, the financial means assigned to education being in a continuous
growth.
As compared to the countries of Europe, Republic of Moldova invests
in education much more resources, the proportion of the public expenses
in the GDP reaching in 2008 the value of 8,2%. Still, the increase of
the financial means assigned to education did not have as a result core
changes in the educational system, and the existing mechanisms of
assigning resources do not stimulate performance: the increase of the
level of access, the diminishment of discrepancies, the improvement of
instruction quality.
The fact that in the Republic of Moldova the increase of the
expenses in the education sector is not accompanied at the same time by
an extension of the access to studies highlights malfunctioning and
inefficiency in the use of the financial means assigned. This is a clear
sign of a deep system crisis, caused also by the fact that the existing
mechanisms of resources assignment do not stimulate performance. The
results obtained by the Republic of Moldova in the human development
domain are in great proportion due to the high level of education. This
advantage represents an important factor, which could contribute to a
decisive extent to the formation and development of the capabilities of
each person. But the existing normative-judicial frame did not enable
the entire capitalization of the opportunities offered by a quality
education. Excessive regulations, financial constraints and the
influence of the political factors did not enable the education
institutions, especially the ones providing instruction for specialists
for the national economy, to develop capabilities and to promptly react
to the changes in the social and economic life and to the evolution of
the labour market.
Although in the professional instruction domain, especially in
higher education, there have been implemented certain reforms, the
number of young people who enter the labour market having no
professional training is very high. This does not contribute to the full
achievement of the potential of each and every citizen and represents a
real obstacle in the social and economic development of the country.
The evolution of the educational system in the Republic of Moldova,
in time of crisis, with alterations and effects represents a future
study.
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This article is a result of the project
POSDRU/88/1.5./S/55287,JDoctoral Programme in Economics at European
Knowledge Standards (DOESEC)". This project is co-funded by the
European Social Fund through The Sectorial Operational Programme for
Human Resources Development 2007-2013, coordinated by The Bucharest
Academy of Economic Studies in partnership with West University of
Timisoara.
5. REFERENCES
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Sen, A. (1992) Inequality Re-examined, Oxford University Press,
Oxford, ISBN 0-674-45255-0
Suciu, M. C. (2000) Investments in education, Economic Press,
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Unterhalters, E. (2009) Deneulin--An Introduction to the Human
Development and Capability Approach, IDRC, Londra
*** (2010) www.register.consilium.europa.eu Council, Education
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*** (2010) www.undp.md United Nations Development Programme in
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