Half of children enrolled in kindergartens stay at home

Chisinau kindergartens are attended by only 54% of all the children enrolled, because many kindergartens were closed for maintenance works or because parents decide to leave their children at home with elder siblings, or take them on vacations. Florica Rusu, head of Preschool Education Service of the General Department of Education, the Youth and Sports (DGETS) of Chisinau, told Info-Prim Neo that at the beginning of June attendance was at 64%, and by July it had fallen by 10%. Thus, the number of children attending kindergartens fell to 17,800. Florica Rusu pointed out that an order was issued on the cessation of several kindergartens’ activity, because of low attendance during summer; some institutions were in need of sewage or plumbing system repairs, or of the alimentary blocks. Three of the capital’s kindergartens were closed for repairs. The others stop their activity temporarily, for 3 to 4 weeks, depending on the time needed. There is a schedule for every district. In places where parents cannot leave their children at home, the latter are transferred to nearby kindergartens. All kindergartens will reopen by September 1. There are 155 kindergartens in Chisinau, which are attended by 33,000 children.