Most of children in residential institutions will spend Easter holidays at home

The largest part of the children brought up in residential childcare institutions in Moldova will spend the Easter holidays with the parents and relatives, the head of the Preuniversity Education Division of the Ministry of Education and Youth, Nadeja Velisco has told Info-Prim Neo. About 75% of the children have where to go for the holidays, the official said. The Education Ministry in concert with the Ministry of Culture will organize the going to two shows at puppet theaters in Chisinau for the children that will remain in the institutions. Some 200 children living in residential institutions in Chisinau city and in the districts of Hancesti and Straseni will watch a play at “Licurici” Theater on April 29. Another 200 children from Chisinau, Balti, Floresti, Hancesti and Straseni will go to the show “Bee Saves Light” by Iulian Filip at the municipal theater “Guguta” on April 30. The administration of each institution will organize special programs during the holidays. The children will go on trips, will participate in artistic activities, and will have concerts and holiday meals. Together with the educators, they will go to the churches from their community. Approximately 70 children out of the 240 that study at the boarding school in Carpineni village in Hancesti district will remain in institutions during the holidays. The rest will spend the Easter holidays in the family, with the relatives or at the place of the institution’s employees. The deputy director for education, Vera Calugareanu says that usually, most of the children are taken home on Easter. Those that remain in the institution will not benefit from a special program this year. The children will be engaged in the traditional sports activities and handicrafts (carpentry, tailoring, embroidery, crocheting). On Easter Day and the second day after Easter, they will have a feast with matzos, dyed eggs, cakes, forcemeat rolls in cabbage, homemade soups organized with the help of the institution’s sponsors. “We try to create a home atmosphere for the children on every holiday,” Vera Calugareanu said. All the children studying at the Chisinau-based special school No.12 for children suffering from hearing deficiencies will spend the holidays at home, including the 30 children from the boarding group. These are children from the suburbs of Chisinau that usually spend the holidays and bank holidays in the family. According to the school’s director Nina Ctitor, when returning from holidays, the children will invite the parents to a bee, where they will show their artistic skills and knowledge and abilities to develop speech and auditory perception acquired during the school year. The program of the Easter performance will include songs, dances, an exhibition of the works made by the children such as pieces of embroidery, crocheted objects etc. During the week before the Easter holidays, the children will be provided with an extra meal every day by the Mission Without Borders organization. These meals consist mainly of Moldovan pies which the children like very much. There are 66 residential childcare institutions in Moldova at present. Some 11,500 children lived and studied in residential institutions according to the last assessment of the given institutions. Out of these, 10,000 had one or both of the parents alive. The 19 boarding schools of the country housed 5,300 children.