The only national inclusive kindergarten works in Ungheni town. It is attended by 366 children, 42 of whom are disabled. Some of them suffer from moderate forms of mental and verbal retardation. “There are other education institutions where children with disabilities study, but they are not inclusive. They have only special groups for disabled children. But we have children with special needs in every group,” Emilia Cucuruzac, the head of “Guguta” kindergarten, which is one of the six kindergartens working in the town, has told Info-Prim Neo. The kindergarten “Guguta” is attended by children with congenital heart disease, muscular dystrophy, atypical bronchitis and anemia. “We have a kid with Down syndrome and another one with a hand malformation. At the beginning, the latter child encountered difficulties as he wasn’t accepted by the other children. Now he is helped by his mates and he made significant progress,” said Emilia Cucuruzac. The kindergarten was reopened on December 24 last year, after it had been renovated with European investments. It became inclusive then. Emilia Cucuruzac said that she noticed improvements in the children’s behavior. The parents recognize it too. “Many say that a child with disabilities should be taken to the local day center, where all the beneficiaries are alike. I consider that this way the child does not learn something new from those who can do more, but copies only what he sees around,” stated the kindergarten’s head. The institution won a project and will benefit from the services of a kinetotherapist during two years. It will also be able to purchase equipment for children with locomotor disabilities. “There is yet a lot of work to do to improve the skills of the preschool education teachers and to cultivate an attitude in favor of inclusive education at community level. We must begin with changing our mentality as regards these children. We must learn to appreciate them even if they are disabled,” said Emilia Cucuruzac. The kindergarten “Guguta” received European grants for full renovation. Another three kindergartens of the six working in Ungheni implemented a number of projects also due to financial support from the EU. One of them consisted in setting up solar panels for providing the kindergartens with hot water.