Delinquent minors to attend schools

As from September 1, the minors jailed in those 4 detention units in Moldova will attend classes. The Penitentiaries Department of the Justice Ministry and the Education and Youth Ministry, supported by UNICEF, organized training courses Wednesday for psychologists and teachers, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the Justice vice minister, Nicolae Esanu, training the jailed minors is a priority of the moment, because, after getting free the minors find themselves in society without any basic knowledge. He says now the penitentiary system is switching from the tough conditions system to humanized detention conditions. He confirms there are no remarkable results so far because of money shortage, yet he hopes the situation will change. The first step is the support offered by UNICEF, which makes possible the education of the children in those 4 prisons in Chisinau, Balti, Cahul and Rezina, Nicolae Esanu says. As from 1 January 2009, it will be necessary to solve the issue of financing the teachers in those schools. UNICEF's representative to Moldova, Ray Virgilio Torres, has told the seminar he put much hope in this project, because the delinquent minors need the adults' help to leave the world they were born in because of poverty, ignorance, negative influence or other social phenomena. In his opinion, a very grave one is the youths drinking alcohol and the state not getting involved in preventing this phenomenon. “In Moldova, consuming alcohol is not viewed as a serious issue, but it's exactly this phenomenon leading to minors' aggressive behavior and their getting involved in committing infractions,” Ray Virgilio Torres said. “UNICEF will go on providing support to this and other projects. We do it because we are certain things in Moldova will change for better,” the UNICEF representative said. In those 4 prisons, the minors will be able to go to an upper level if they successfully accomplish the lower ones.