Kindergarten cooks shortage threatens preschool meals in Chișinău
Chișinău kindergartens are facing an acute shortage of kitchen staff, with only 499 of 800 kitchen positions currently filled. Andrei Pavalon, deputy director of the General Directorate for Education, Youth and Sport, said the situation means that almost half of the capital’s preschool institutions still do not have a full kitchen team.
Pavalon presented figures which, in his view, require immediate discussion. He warned that the problem is no longer theoretical, but directly concerns whether kindergartens can continue to function normally.
“What will we do if kindergartens close tomorrow? Not because we have no children or educators, but because there is no one left to cook food?”
The official also described the pressure on those who remain in their posts. When one person leaves, another takes on the workload, sometimes doing one and a half or even two jobs, he said, before asking the simplest question: how much longer can these people hold out?
Pavalon stressed that kitchen workers are not secondary staff.
“Education is not only about the person who teaches children, but also about the person who prepares their food.”
Low public-sector pay drives staff away
According to the published figures, a kindergarten cook earns 4,230 lei a month, while an assistant cook receives 3,150 lei. A storekeeper earns 3,030 lei, and a dishwasher 2,780 lei.
Pavalon compared these salaries with the private sector, where similar work is paid at around 7,000 to 12,000 lei. The gap helps explain why the shortage of kindergarten cooks in Chișinău has become so difficult to resolve.
The problem has arisen before. In October 2025, reports said schools and kindergartens in Chișinău were short of around 400 cooks, with uncompetitive salaries cited as the main reason. Young specialists were choosing private catering businesses or private schools instead.
In April 2026, information also emerged about 12 kindergartens in the capital that could not operate normally because they lacked cooks. The repeated warnings suggest that the shortage of kindergarten cooks has become a persistent problem rather than a temporary staffing difficulty.
The education official has proposed several measures, including raising tariff grades and coefficients, reviewing the minimum salary in the public sector, paying a fixed allowance of 1,300 lei and increasing supplements for harmful working conditions. Without such steps, the shortage of kindergarten cooks risks leaving the capital’s preschool system dependent on exhausted staff who are already working beyond their normal duties.
