Eighty young people from different residential institutions of Moldova received scholarships to study. The recipients are from 20 institutions located in different regions of the country and were selected at a contest staged by the Educational Advising Center. The Center’s executive director Angela Muset said the scholarships are used to satisfy current needs, IPN reports.

The contest “Scholarships for young people from residential institutions” involved 126 candidates. These received scholarships of up to 12,000 lei, depending on the period of studies. According to Angela Muset, the scholars were chosen based on the social aspect and the academic standing. “There were children from unfavorable environments with a very difficult social situation, but these proved that they can do well at school. An average grade of 7.5 was required for all the years and maintaining at least this grade was a condition for reapplying to this contest,” she stated.

Angela Muset also said that applicants’ files were examined by an expert commission consisting of representatives of the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, the Ministry of Education and the academic community. Of the total number of scholarships, half were offered to the participants in the previous contest to help them continue their studies. The other 40 scholarships were provided to young people who in 2015 graduated from a residential institution and continued their studies at vocational schools, theoretical lyceums, colleges and universities starting with the autumn of 2015.

Minister of Labor Stela Grigoras said that attracting new partnerships to support the children and young people from residential institutions is the Ministry’s priority. “This model of cooperation and social responsibility between the representatives of the state, businesspeople and civil society will help the young people to study and get a job so as to easier integrate into society,” she stated.

The project “Scholarships for young people from residential institutions” was launched in October 2010. A number of 415 scholarships to the value of over 4 million lei have been provided within the five contests so far. The project is financially supported by the Orange Moldova Foundation.