Without doors, without water, toilet paper or soap. This is how most of the toilets in the national schools look like, said representatives of the pubic association “Parinti Solidari” (“Solidary Parents”), who staged a photo exhibition in partnership with the Students Union of Moldova and the public association “Orasul Meu” (“My City”) in a move to sensitize society and the authorities to the lack of hygiene conditions in schools. On June 1, these invite the inhabitants of Chisinau to a march where they will demand that students‘ rights to intimacy and health be respected, IPN reports.

The exhibition was mounted in the square before the monument to Ruler Stephan the Great and Holy in Chisinau. This consists of photos of disastrous conditions in the toilets of 12 national schools. “Official reports confirm that 10% of the schools do not meet the minimum hygiene conditions, while 70% of the students who took part in the poll launched by the Children’s Platform said they never or almost never saw soap in the toilet. 75% of those polled said there is no toilet paper. It’s time to sound the alarm and to mobilize,” stated Ala Revenco, founder of the Group “Solidary Parents”.

“We consider that demanding better hygiene conditions means demanding the fundamental rights to health and intimacy, which should be enjoyed by any student in a county that claims to be European,” added Ala Revenco.

“The school should not be a place where our health is in danger owing to the poor hygiene conditions. It is unacceptable for the toilets not to have doors and not to guarantee a minimum of intimacy! We are here because the authorities ignore this problem,” stated Paul Fukarev, chairman  of the Students Union of Moldova.

The organizers invited passersby to a march that will start from the UNIC store at 10am on June 1. The participants will demand that the local and central public authorities should make sure that all the schools in Chisinau meet minimum hygiene standards by the next local elections. Later the campaign should continue in the schools in the rest of the country.