All the kindergartens in Moldova will work according to a new program of ten hours a day, not of 12 hours that is the current program of most of the early education institutions in Chisinau municipality. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Research makes reference to a poll carried out by the Chisinau General Education, Youth and Sport Division in February – May 2018 by keeping records of the children’s kindergarten arrival and leaving time. The poll shows about 13% of the children are brought to the kindergarten between 7:00am and 7:30am and only 11% of the children are taken from the kindergarten in the period between 6:30pm and 7:00pm. Some 61% of the children come in the period between 8:00am and 8:30am and 65% leave in the period between 5:00am and 6:00am.
In a response to an inquiry made by IPN, the Ministry said studies in the field and international experience show the optimal period of stay in institutional environment for children should not exceed ten hours a day given the child’s limited psychical-physiological potential. This is also the optimal period for strengthening the relations between the child and parents or the extended family so as to offer the child the joy of communicating with parents and to make the parents more responsible for the child’s growth and development.
According to the authorities, a simple calculation shows a small child stays for 12 hours a day at the kindergarten and sleeps for another 8-10 hours, which is 20-22 hours overall. And the child spends only four hours with the parents in the best case. But this time should also be divided to the time spent on the way to and from the kindergarten, in the morning and in the evening, dining in the family, hygienic procedures, reading, etc. In such conditions, not much time remains for viable communication and interaction between the child and parents.
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Research said there is one more reason that refers to Moldova and this is the ensuring of social equity for all children, regardless of their place of residence and economic and financial situation of the local public authorities of the first level.
The state should provide an equitable package of education services for all children. In 2017, there were 1,458 general education institutions in Moldova that provided early education services. Of these, 1,385 were crèches-kindergartens, kindergartens and community centers, while 92 were complexes that provided early education services. Six of them had a 24-hour program (special institutions), 173 had a 12-hour program, 253 a 9-10.5-hour program, 23 a six-hour program, while three a four-hour program.
Of the 173 early education institutions with a 12-hour program, 155 are based in Chisinau and are attended by 38,000 children. Practically most of the children, over 110,000 or 74.1% of the total per country, who are mainly from rural areas, are disadvantaged as regards their access to early education services. Thus, the Ministry said the move is aimed not at reducing the program of all the kindergartens, but at restoring the social-education equity so that all children in the Republic of Moldova enjoy access to the same standard package of services.
For children who cannot be brought or taken during the ten-hour program of kindergartens, the Ministry recommends the local public authorities of the first level, as the founders and managers of public early education institutions, to form groups on duty with additional educator salary paid from the available salary fund. In Chisinau, for example, this fund exists because there are many vacancies, but it is used for other purposes.
The Ministry also said the switchover to the ten-hour program a day will not affect the remuneration of personnel as the teaching norm of 30 hours a week will be modified and two posts of educator at one group will exist at all the kindergartens in the country, as now. The ancillary personnel will also not be affected as they work for eight hour a day during five days a week, as it is provided in the Labor Code.
