One child in ten does not go to school in Moldova

Education is the sector where Moldova does not make progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals assumed in 2000, said UNICEF Representative in Moldova Alexandra Yuster. In a Press Club meeting organized by the Independent Journalism Center, the UNICEF representative said Moldova encounters problems in the education sector. Though the official data show the school attendance rate is high, one in ten children is out of school, she said, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. The families of the children who abandon school or miss classes are usually in a difficult financial situation. Many children in villages do not go to school because they do housework and work in the fields together with their parents. Statistics show 18% of the children who are absent from school perform work during classes. Journalist Natalia Porubin said the teachers often do not provide correct information about the attendance rate. Therefore, the data presented by the Ministry of Education and those of UNICEF are different. “The school heads are penalized for absences. This is probably the reason why they provide erroneous information,” said Natalia Porubin. The UNICEF Representative in Moldova said that though the education sector is financed from abroad as well, no progress is made in this area. She considers the schools attended by a low number of students should be merged, especially where the teachers outnumber the students. Also, a part of the savings must be reinvested in education. Moldova pledged to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 by signing the Millennium Declaration at the UN Summit in 2000.