Moldova is a success story at global and regional levels as regards the involvement of children aged between 3 and 6 in early education programs. The figure now stands at 82%. Despite the success in the area of access to and quality of early education, there are very many children with disabilities, Romany children and other categories of disfavored children who do not benefit from early education.
In a news conference at IPN, UNICEF early development programs coordinator Larisa Vartosu said that in order to ensure access to early education, UNICEF opened 60 community centers in 60 settlements of the country where there are no kindergartens. Thus, about 3,000 children are now able to go to kindergarten. The community centers were opened with the assistance of the community and parents, who contributed money and work hours. This is a model of successful social partnership that deserves being implemented by other settlements where there are no kindergartens.
Larisa Vartosu also said that UNICEF and the Ministry of Education are piloting a project intended for parents with children younger than three. The project will enable the children under three to benefit from care and studies, while the mothers will be able to do a job. UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health are reviewing the sanitary norms in kindergartens as they do not meet the current standards.
The child-focused policies worked out in Moldova over the last six years started to produce results. The educators lay emphasis on the learning environment and the child is the main object of study. The UNICEF coordinator said the mentality of the educators who use different methods for developing critical thinking in children, based on their individual needs, began to change. The common effort of society must be centered on the universal access to early education. This thing becomes possible based on the cooperation between the community and parents.
According to a UNICEF study, 157 villages in Moldova do not yet have a kindergarten.
