Four in ten parents consider that beating is an efficient and justified educative method, says the study “Violence against Children” presented on February 21, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the study, 25% of the questioned children said they have been beaten by their parents, while 13% said that the teachers have used corporal punishment on them. One third of the children said that the teachers subjected them to verbal violence. One in ten children said they suffer from hunger because there is not enough food at home, and one in ten considers that they are neglected and not being taken care of. 20% of the children said they are verbally maltreated and one in then said they were sexually abused. 10% of the parents admitted to abusing the children psychologically, 7% to slapping their children when they do something wrong and 4% to beating them with different objects. The data were collected by the Marketing and Polling Institute IMAS. The study was carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child and the Ministry of Education and Youth with the financial and technical support of UNICEF Moldova. The UNICEF Representative in Moldova Ray Virgilio Torres said that the study revealed a positive trend – the adults in Moldova want to stop the phenomenon of violence. Over 70% of the parents said the use of corporal punishments by parents should be banned by law. However, only 5% of them said they would report a case of beating if the see one. The state social system does not adequately address the problem of violence against children, says another study conducted by experts of the Centre “Gender” and presented on the same day. Half of the respondents (working in over 400 state institutions like schools, kindergartens, local administrations, ministries) said that they do not know how to report the cases of violence and consequently do nothing in this respect. As response to the two studies, the Ministry of Education and Youth launched the National Project “School – Environment without Violence” through which it wants to develop an educational partnership between children, parents and teachers. The project will cover all the 1,500 schools of the country and will include such activities as training seminars on positive and non-violent disciplining for teachers, special lessons on violence, the publishing of a brochure for students, informative seminars for teachers and managing personnel of education institutions. Minister of Education and Youth Victor Tvircun said that through such studies the society is sounding the alarm: we risk raising a monstrous generation with no such sacred values as the life and human rights. Speaking about the violence between children, the minister said that the mass media, films and video games contribute to the spread of this phenomenon. He stressed that the out-of-school activities play an important role in preventing the violent behaviour of the children. As to the teachers’ behaviour, Tvircun said that the draft law on education provides that every person working in the education system should take a psychological examination before employment. Deputy Minister of Social Protection, Family and Child Lucia Gavrilita said that the ministry in 2008 will organise special seminars for all the social workers of the country. They will be trained how to find and correctly act in cases of abuses against children. Also, the ministry filed an application to the Parliament asking it to hasten the adoption of the law on the prevention and combating of family violence in final reading.