The Prahova Community Foundation has named the 13 projects selected for the fifth round of the Prahova Education Fund, a private grant programme backed by OMV Petrom. The announcement is a selection, not proof that the money has already reached school accounts. Observatorul Prahovean carried the list on 20 October; the foundation had already posted it on the programme site.

Forty-two teams applied after an April call. After an eligibility check, 39 files remained. The 13 winners were not picked from 42 without a filter: three projects did not pass eligibility. The grants are non-reimbursable and open to schools, kindergartens, NGOs and public bodies in the county.

The published amounts add up to more than 1.7 million lei. The smallest listed award is 79,000 lei, in Urlați; the largest, almost 175,000 lei, is for a kindergarten in Ploiești. Those figures are grant ceilings, not confirmed payments. The themes include libraries, sports spaces, STEAM labs, yards and outdoor amphitheatres.

The official list includes, among others, Bibliohub at the I.L. Caragiale National College in Ploiești, a STEAM lab at the Nichita Stănescu National College, an amphitheatre at Ion Kalinderu College in Bușteni and a schoolyard in Gura Vadului. Full names and sums are on the programme page. Observatorul attributes the Nichita Stănescu project to the parents' association; the official page lists the college.

Executive director Bianca Dăniță said the impact is not measured only in square metres refurbished. The foundation speaks of more than 3,500 children; the programme page writes more than 3,600. The gap has not been explained in public. Both figures are estimates of beneficiaries, not a census after the work is done.

The programme is in its fifth edition. The full list of applications remains on prahovapentrueducatie.ro. Until implementation reports appear, selection does not mean the building work has started.

Image: Palace of Culture in Ploiești, CC BY-SA 3.0 Andrei Stroe, Wikimedia Commons; the building, not the selected schools.

Sources consulted: Fondul Prahova Pentru Educație - ediția a V-a, susținut de OMV Petrom, finanțează 13 proiecte educaționale din comunitatea prahoveană; 13 proiecte finanțate vor schimba comunitățile prahovene în ediția a V-a a Fondului Prahova Pentru Educație.