Victor Tvircun: Work & Travel programmes should not be left in private hands

The Ministry of Education and Youth (MEY) considers that Work & Travel programmes should not be left in private hands, because this is a matter of citizens’ lives and safety, Minister Victor Tvircun told reporters on Thursday, January 31. The Minister said that in the course of February, MEY representatives will work with the U.S. diplomatic mission to find a solution in the students’ favour, which will allow them to travel and make some money, but at the same time, will guarantee their security. Tvircun assured there’s no connection between the fact that 20 percent of visa holders under these programmes didn’t return from the U.S. and the quality of education in Moldova. The Minister cited the performances achieved by the Moldovan students at various competitions held throughout Europe, mentioning that a large part of the youth studying abroad choose to come back home and start a business here in Moldova. Also in February, the MET, the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child, and the Ministry of Public Administration will meet for a joint Collegium to discuss the necessity of optimising the network of secondary educational institutions, considered by the Minister to be a top-priority issue. During a meeting of MET’s Collegium on January 31, Victor Tvircun reviewed the achievement registered in 2007. According to the Minister, the first time in the last two decades, 1,175 rural schools were provided with teaching material for such disciplines as biology, chemistry and geography. In the school-year 06/07, the number of children who didn’t attend school was as low as 45, while in the first half of the current school year it fell to 28. In contrast, the number of under-7 children placed in kindergartens has increased. 33 kindergartens were renovated and furnished. 15 community centres for parents and children have been established. 49 textbooks and didactic materials have been published. 20 titles of books published by Moldovan authors have been disseminated in all the educational institutions of the country. In the context of the youth policy, 23 community resource centres for the youth have been opened and 50 new youth councils have been established. One of the major achievements of the MET, the Minister said, was the progress made in implementing the reform of the residential child care system. In 2007, as many as 274 children were reintegrated into biological or extended families and other 154 were prevented from being institutionalised. The allowances for foster and adoptive parents have been raised, and so have the allowances for looking after children placed in family-type children’s homes. The number of such homes rose from 25 in 2006 to 52 in 2007.