A group of parents on October 23 protested in Chisinau, demanding that decent hygienic conditions are ensured for children in kindergartens. According to Ala Revenko, head of the association “Solidary Parents”, the kindergartens in Chisinau are supplied neither with liquid soap nor with toilet paper. “They say the allocations from the local budget are very small. We don’t know how the funds are used, but the parents are told to give money for these products,” IPN quoted Ala Revenko as saying.
She also said that in villages the parents give by 20 lei for hygiene products in kindergartens, while in the capital city the figure can amount to 400 lei. “The parents have to give money as the children need to wash their hands or other parents can reproach them for buying soap for their children too,” said the head of “Solidary Parents”.
One of the founders of the group “Solidary Parents” Iulia Nazaria said the organization launched a campaign centering on hygiene in kindergartens as this is a general problem. “Regrettably, in Chisinau there are also bathrooms and toilets that are in a deplorable state. The children must have decent lavatories. We came here with toilet paper. Given that we take soap and toilet paper to the kindergarten, we decided to take these to the City Hall too. We hope the local authorities will include this issue in the agenda,” stated Iulia Nazaria.
Parent Carolina Kirilenko said the problem of hygiene in kindergartens has persisted for a long period. “We tend to have a European republic, but have Soviets norms. The regulations haven’t been modified for 31 years and these say nothing about toilet paper. They didn’t calculate how much soap and toilet paper a child needs,” she noted.
According to the protest organizers, a sum of 7 million lei is needed to solve the given problem in the kindergartens of Chisinau. After demonstrating in front of the Chisinau City Hall, the parents walked to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research and the General Division of Education, Youth and Sport to transmit the same message to the authorities.
