Children of Cahul boarding school will go to community schools this year

All the children of the Cahul-based boarding school will study at community schools this year. The 103 children have been integrated into “Alexandru Donici” and “Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu” schools together with their teachers, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the boarding school director Emilia Mocanu, the children and teachers were integrated in two stages – the first-fourth graders during the 2007 – 2008 school year, while the fifth-ninth graders this year. Though the boarding school provides all the necessary conditions, the children should go to the community school so as not to get isolated from their fellows. It is a necessity that insures their successful integration into the society after graduation, Emilia Mocanu said. The boarding school in Cahul town is being reorganized into a complex of social services for children in difficulty. The reorganization model was proposed by the public organization EveryChild Moldova and is implemented in concert with the local administration. The project aims to separate the educational process from the social one in the residential institution. Daniela Mamaliga, program director at EveryChild Moldova, has told Info-Prim Neo that another goal of the project is to physically restructure the institution. The education block will be transformed into a placement center for children in difficulty. The reorganization works on the building have already started. The center will contain six family-type units with kitchen, sitting room and one or two bedrooms. In 2009, children’s bedrooms will be changed into social apartments for orphan graduates that don’t have where to go when they turn 16. In parallel, emphasis will be put on the reintegration of the children into the biological or extended family and on the engagement of the boarding school staff into the new services by improving and adjusting their skills. The four teachers of the school already work at the community schools and are near the children. The Cahul boarding school is reorganized as part of the reform of the residential childcare system implemented since last summer, when the Government adopted the Strategy and Action Plan for carrying out the reform of the residential childcare system for 2007-2012. The reform aims to halve the number of children raised separately from the family until 2012 by reintegrating most of the children in boarding schools and children’s homes into the biological or extended family or by preventing their institutionalization. Also, the Government aims to restructure all the residential institutions according to a general transformation plan.