The young people and children who serve time at the Penitentiary in Goian can benefit from professional development courses to learn a job owing to an initiative of Regina Pacis Foundation. The Foundation’s director Ilie Zabica said these courses are popular with the minors. Among the strong points of these courses are the high quality of training, adjustment of classrooms for practical lessons, outfitting with modern equipment and the necessary aids. The process of training minors and young men serving time in jail is depicted in a documentary entitled “Education Behind Bars”, IPN reports.
In the penitentiary for minors, Regina Pacis Foundation launched courses to train barbers, cooks, shoemakers, IT operators, plasterers, electricians, etc. The courses last for three-four months. The graduation certificates are issued by professional schools, being accredited by the Ministry of Education, and there is no mention of the fact that the training course was attended in jail. The goal is to increase the employment chances of these young people when they leave prison. “Each of us deserves a second chance, especially these children who committed crimes in childhood and many of them committed these offenses because they didn’t benefit from the parents’ love, didn’t receive training and many children grew up on the street, while others were abused in the family,” stated Ilie Zabica.
He related that the prejudice and stereotypes were the biggest challenges in the organization of courses. Many said the efforts will fail as there were made many attempts and the courses were not successful. It was ultimately determined that the success of the courses depends on their quality so that the child finally acquires the knowledge needed to find a job. Such courses should be staged in all the national penitentiaries, which should be regarded as reeducation institutions, not as punishment institutions. Regina Pacis Foundation will continue to make effort to replicate this experience at national level.
Liubovi Jignea-Suveica, head of Penitently No.10 in Goian, said these courses are popular and she saw the young people’s wish to learn a job. These realized that they can find a job when on the outside only if they use the time usefully, to learn something new. A part of those who attended cooking courses work at the penitentiary’s canteen and can improve their skills. This initiative should be continued and the state should turn its attention to this category of citizens, who should be helped to become socially integrated after detention. They should earn their living by working, not by fraud.
Valentina Gușan is a teacher at the plastering professional development courses. She said that when she interacted with children from the penitentiary for the first time, she had a kind of fear, but then found “the key to each student” and next time felt much more relaxed. The children wait for her and are eager to know what else they will learn, while her family supports her in her activity. A teacher of cooking, Nina Tofan teaches her students to prepare food with love so that the dishes are tasty. Aurelia Țopa, who teachers hairdressing, noted that she came before the students with particular rules and organizational norms. The children didn’t know them initially and opposed, but gradually started to show respect for the courses. She saw that a part of the young people from the penitentiary have a profound respect for teachers, possibly even greater than the students from the outside.
Cornel, one of the young men held at the penitentiary, decided to attend cooking courses so as to learn to cook daily and to later get a job, when he leaves prison. Tudor attended coking and plastering courses as he is sure the learned skills will help him to start the family of which he dreams. Andrei, after he serves his sentence, intends to attend an evening school to complete his studies as he finished only ten grades and was then jailed.
Vladislava Chiriac, senior officer and psychologists at the Penitentiary in Goian, said the social factor influences a lot the subsequent integration of detainees. The professional development courses are for these young people a new opportunity of re-socialization. The chances of finding a job when out will be great and they only need to want to work.
The documentary “Education Behind Bars” was made on the initiative of Regina Pacis Foundation and focuses on the training of minors held at Penitentiary in Goian. The courses are staged in the framework of the project “Extension of Professional Development Courses for Minors in Goian” that is implemented with financial support from the Renovabis Association of Germany.
