Moldova can boast of legislation adjusted to the international standards as regards the inclusion of children, but the laws, which are written well, are not fully respected. The member of the Association of Parents of Children with Disabilities “ProSprijin” Ecaterina Golovatyi, in a news conference at IPN, said emphasis in the last few years has been put on the integration of children with disabilities into schools, but not much has been done to include these children in the preschool education system.
The inclusion in the school can be successful if the child was initially integrated into the nursery school and the continuity of the education process was ensured. “Our legislation is one step forward and we achieved results as regards school inclusion, but we now return to the problem of inclusion in nurseries. But we should have started from this. Barriers are faced in the inclusion in nurseries, but everyone should understand that a child integrated into the nursery is progress made before the school period, because the adjustment will be easier,” stated Ecaterina Golovatyi.
There is a large number of children with disabilities who remain outside the lists when the nurseries and schools perform the enrollment, while society shifts responsibility onto the parents. “A parent with a disabled child needs support on the part of society as this child often remains at home because he is denied access to a general education institution. In the worst case, the parents give up and take their children to medical institutions and then to residential institutions, even from the preschool age,” said Ecaterina Golovatyi.
The situation is not better in the case of disabled children who studied at a general education institution because, after graduation, they cannot attend a vocational school or a faculty and remain again at home, isolated from society.
To help the parents of children with disabilities, members of the Association “ProSprijin” will create a communication and support platform, with emphasis on the rights and needs of the children with disabilities, by eliminating such barriers as limited access to public services, insufficiency of support services in school and limited recreational opportunities.
