More than 80 per cent of opinion poll's respondents back introduction of school uniforms in Moldova's education institutions

Chisinau, 14 May /MOLDPRES/ - More than 80 per cent of the respondents of an opinion poll support the introduction of school uniforms. Education, Culture and Research Minister Monica Babuc made statements to this effect at a news conference today.     
The survey was carried out by ministry’s specialists. “The findings of the survey represent the opinion of the society. Within the poll, people aged between 7 and 74 years were interviewed. Nevertheless, 55 per cent of them are children and 45 per cent – adults. We chose this ratio, as it is necessary to learn the opinion of these uniforms’ beneficiaries. The poll’s data shows that over 60 per cent of the persons interviewed believe that the introduction of the uniform is important and very important,” Babuc said.     
According to the survey, about 78 per cent of the respondents say that an advantage of the introduction of the school uniform would be that pupils will feel equal and about 17 per cent consider that the pupils will be deprived of their personality by this introduction. “Also, over 37 per cent of the respondents think that it is necessary that each institution has its own model of school uniform and about 32 per cent – that it should be identical all over the country. A lower percentage of persons believe that the uniform needs to be identical at the level of class or settlement,” the minister said.  
“We do not agree with the people who say that the introduction of school uniforms would represent an additional burden for parents, as beginning with August, parents annually make purchases of clothes for children, which cost too. According to data by the ministry, the price of one school uniform for boys varies between 700 and 1,500 lei and for girls – between 650 and 1,450 lei. At the same time, we have established that the state might pay more than 18 million lei for the school uniforms of the children coming from about 17,000 socially vulnerable families. The decision on the introduction of uniforms is to be discussed by the government, parliament and civil society,” Monica Babuc added.   
The opinion poll was conducted on a sample of about 300,000 people on the period 17 April – 2 May. No financial resources were spent to carry out the poll, as the survey was held by representatives of the ministry and education institutions of Moldova.  
In last December, the Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM), following discussions with the civil society, proposed to re-introduce the school uniforms in education institutions. At that time, the spokesman for PDM, Vitalie Gamurari, informed that “the subject is discussed at the party and the Education, Culture and Research Ministry was asked to come up with a vision on this subject.”    
(Reporter A. Ciobanu, editor M. Jantovan)