Education Ministry positive about successful reformation of residential child care system

Officials of the Ministry of Education are optimistic about the success of the reform of the residential child care system implemented with the support of UNICEF and of the European Union. The authorities hope that the number of children placed in residential institutions will be halved by 2012. At a meeting with reporters on September 21, Deputy Minister of Education Valentin Crudu said that the society supports the authorities in implementing the reform. The teachers working in such institutions are afraid that they will remain without jobs, but the state made a commitment to provide them with employment, the deputy minister said. About one third (900) of the 3,000 teachers working in 21 boarding schools reached the pensioning age or will reach it while the reform is being implemented. Approximately 800 persons attended refresher courses and will work as social assistants. The other teachers will remain in the residential education institutions, but they will also attend courses so as to provide the children with the best education. According to Valentin Crudu, the investigations in the 67 residential institutions reveal that about 82% of the children have biological or extended families. Nearly 13% of the children go home every day and 20% - at least once a week. Some 12% of the children were not present in the institutions when the investigations were conducted. The studies show once again that the residential system is inefficient. The costs of implementing the reform have not been estimated yet, but it is planned that there will be saved important sums of money that are now spent on repair, maintenance and sanitation of the residential institutions. The deputy minister said that the buildings of the institutions that will be closed as a result of the reform will be administered by the local public authorities in charge of social and education services. A part of the old buildings will be demolished. The agricultural plots of land of the liquidated institutions will become state property. Each of the institutions has by about 12 hectares of land. Currently, the 23 family-type homes opened in pilot regions receive yearly allowances of 1 000 lei. The monthly allowances for a child (a family-type home has at most seven children) are slightly over 200 lei, but the authorities promise to increase them to 450 lei. A parent educator receives a salary of 500 lei.