The Ministry of Education explains in a press release the reason for withdrawing a number of investments from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), in particular: the modernization of some IT laboratories, the creation of additional early education services and the number of beneficiary schools of the National School Dropout Reduction Program (PNRAS).

In a press release from the Ministry of Education, Edupedu.ro writes that “more than 1,800 computer laboratories equipped with technology, 330 schools that were supposed to be equipped through PNRAS, and 10% of schools that were supposed to be renovated are disappearing. Half of the school electric buses provided for by the PNRR have been removed from the plan.”

The representatives of the ministry say that they proposed changes “related to real needs in the territory”, based on the latest needs and collected data, which were different at the time of submission of the PNRR.

“Thus, the corrections proposed by the Ministry of Education can be divided into two categories:

• 1. Correction of some errors of the type of essential errors (for example: translations from the English language or consistency of legislation), correction of some terms in accordance with the measures of new laws on education (for example: reform of management after the entry into force of legislative provisions Law on pre-university educationpublished on July 4, 2023), the development of an online platform for assessing student skills in accordance with the new deadlines for the development, completion, approval and application of framework plans and school programs for pre-university education, through the National Curriculum Action Plan.
• 2. Changes of an objective nature within the limits of Art. 18 and Art. 21 of the European Regulation 241/2021, namely the adjustment of some indicators in accordance with the application of the price growth index and in accordance with the real need in the territory,” the press release states.

Missed targets

Thus, according to the representatives of the Ministry of Education, it was proposed to “correct the goals and benchmarks that were not achieved based on the results of tenders for projects that have already been launched and the calendar of which has already been extended several times.”

For example, in the case of computer laboratories, after the design competition, it turned out that the initial number estimated by the Ministry of Education was too high for the needs of the territory, according to the press release.

• “In this case, after the design competition, it turned out that local needs were lower than the Ministry of Education’s initial estimate, mainly as a result of multiple funding that schools received during the pandemic to provide the necessary IT equipment. .

• Therefore, after centralizing the actual needs submitted by the academic units through the funding requests submitted in the tender for assistance, the Ministry of Education requested to adjust the benchmarks according to the submitted projects so that the financial allocation could be used referring to the actual need at the time the opening of tenders for projects and not at the time of assessments made on the date of submission of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (eg: from the initially estimated 5,200 laboratories to a minimum of 4,350),” according to the same source.

Additional early education services: from 412 to 90

Although the Ministry of Education initially estimated the need for more than 400 additional early education services, the reality showed that interest was much lower.

“Reducing the target for the creation of additional early education services from 412 to a minimum of 90. The new target corresponds to the submitted projects (99), after several meetings with potential beneficiaries and several extensions of the submission calendar. In the period between 2020 and 2021, the target was 412 additional services, intended exclusively for isolated/disadvantaged areas,” representatives of the Ministry of Education also sent.

National school dropout reduction program

Regarding the number of schools that will be implemented under the National Program for the Reduction of School Dropouts (PNRAS), the press release states that in view of the price increase, the school grant has been increased from €200,000 to €300,000.

• “We note that 1,409 projects were submitted in the first round of the National School Dropout Reduction Program, and 693 projects in the second, although the acceptance of projects was extended twice. At the same time, the Ministry of Education is considering the possibility of re-launching the 2nd round of PNRAS after the completion of the evaluation of the projects submitted from the June-July 2023 session, as well as the launch of the competition for projects dedicated to small schools, younger than 40 students in gymnasiums, for which it was already established during public consultations A guide for the applicant in order to consolidate the support of these educational units from an administrative point of view, so that every potential beneficiary is part of this project to reduce school dropouts,” the same source said.

Purchase of school minibuses

As for the purchase of green school minibuses, the Ministry of Education clarifies that the cost of the purchase has changed, as the type of minibuses needed on the territory has also changed.

• “Under Investment 10 – Procurement of Green Minibuses, the estimate of the initial target (3,200) at the time of submission of the PNRR was made by reference to the cost of procurement of 8+1 electric minibuses. Before the launch of the “Electric minibuses for schoolchildren” competition, the Ministry of Education, with the support of local state authorities, conducted a needs analysis to determine the settlements that need school buses.

• As a result of this analysis, UATs are being asked to fund a significantly higher proportion of 16+1 seater vans and, in some situations, more than 16+1 seater vans to meet specific community needs. places

• Thus, the value of the vehicles exceeded the original estimate by at least two times. At the same time, the Ministry of Education proposed to update the target value, referring to the number of beneficiaries (children who will use school transport will remain the same, but will be grouped in minibuses with more seats). We recall the fact that last year the Ministry of Education tried to identify additional sources of funding to meet the needs of the territory as much as possible, so that the initial budget of 200 million euros allocated for this purpose was increased by another 50 million euros, as well as co-financing county councils in the amount of more than 7 million euros,” the press release also states.

According to the Ministry of Education, more than 3.6 billion euros from the PNRR will go to the field of education.