Children and grandparents at the same school
- 16.08.2007 07:33
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- 2 minute(s)
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For four days children and elderly people, mainly their grandparents will learn to communicate better and make themselves understood. One hundred children and adults from Balti and Hancesti are participating in the summer school themed “The Family is my Home” taking place on August 16-19.
Children participating in the summer school are lacking family affection, are raised by grandparents, or live in boarding schools, as their parents are mainly working abroad. Courses are held in Rusca village, at the summer camp “Tara”, which accommodates 45 children and adults from Hincesti district, and in Soroca, at the camp “La Dumbrava”, with space for 55 participants from Balti district.
The programme contains interactive activities, games, discussions, applications, social theatre plays, case-studies with the joint participation of children and adults. Activities are focused on the following subjects: children’s rights, child protection, family labour, the impact of socialisation on the development of children, child reintegration into families, communication across ages, and stages of child development.
The summer school aims to improve the abilities of grandparents to take care of and educate children, to consolidate relationships between generations and to promote an extended family feeling – of relatives, grandparents, and other close ones – as a good environment for the development of children and an alternative to the boarding schools and orphanages. These activities aim to prevent the placement of children in such institutions.
According to latest results provided by the evaluation of those 67 institutions of residential type – 11,545 children are brought up in boarding schools and orphanages. The majority of children placed in such institutions, more exactly, 10,750, have one or both parents still alive. Of these 795 children are with parents who are working abroad.
The summer school’s second tour is organised by HelpAge International and has as its partner the project UNICEF-EU “Development of integrated social services for vulnerable families and children at risk”.
HelpAge International (HAI) is a global network protecting the rights of elderly people at risk and vulnerable to economic and physical insurance, medical and social insurance and are offering to strengthen their role as tutors across all generations.
