Employees of the education system in the second semester of the 2014-2015 academic year reported almost 6,000 cases of violence against children that happened in the family, at school or in the community. The figure is lower than in the first semester of the school year. Practically half of these were cases of physical abuse, followed by cases of emotional violence and negligence. There were also reported cases of labor exploitation, sexual abuse and one case of trafficking in human beings, IPN reports.

The Ministry of Education said the number of serious cases of violence against children reported to the local child protection bodies has significantly increased. There is also a growing reporting tendency among adults with legal responsibilities for the growth and development of the child. Most of the almost 6,000 cases of violence were reported by teachers and non-teaching personnel of education institutions and by parents.

Acting Minister of Education Maia Sandu said these qualitative changes are due to the fact that the directors and coordinators for child protection and prevention of child abuse of all the general secondary and technical vocational education institutions in 2014-2015 were taught how to identity and report cases of abuse, negligence, exploitation and trafficking in children. Two years ago, the Ministry of Education started to implement a large-scale violence prevention and fighting strategy.