130 children in Moldova do not go to school

The number of children who are out of school in Moldova has decreased from 200 to 130 compared with last year. The main causes of non-attendance remain the parents’ refusal to send the children to school and the leaving of the families together with the children abroad. The data were presented in the meeting of the National Council for Child Rights Protection on October 28, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The parents force their children to perform seasonal works like crop harvesting and thus they do not attend school. Our task is to convince these parents that their children also need studies,” said Deputy Minister of Education Tatiana Potang. In many cases, the parents who take their children with them abroad, on a permanent or a temporary basis, do not announce the local public administration. That’s why these children are classed as out of school. According to the deputy minister, among other causes of school non-attendance are the poor financial situation of the families, child vagrancy and personal reasons. Asked by children’s ombudswoman Tamara Plamadeala if the data on children out of school include the Roma children as well, Tatiana Potang said no difference by ethnicity is made when registering the children at school. “Our data are different from those of the Roma Associations, which say that thousands of children do not attend school. We are bewildered by such figures,” she said. Tatiana Potang informed that a lawsuit was filed against the parents of a child who is not allowed to go to school. “Penalizing the parents who refuse to allow the child to go to school is not the best method. We opt for discussions, communication with the local public authorities. The penalties do not remedy the situation, especially of the socially-deprived families,” said the deputy minister of education. According to the Ministry of Education, most of the children out of school are from Calarasi, Floresti, Falesti, Chisinau, Hancesti, and Ialoveni.