Provide Quality and Relevant Education to All Children
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PROVIDE QUALITY AND RELEVANT EDUCATION TO ALL CHILDREN THE ISSUE: KEY FIGURES: One in five young PRESCHOOL ATTENDANCE children in rural areas • 1,800 children remain in special schools. does not have any • access to early child- Half of Roma children are excluded from education. hood development programs. Discrep- • One in two teachers believes that chil- ancies between en- dren with disabilities should study in rolment in rural and special schools. urban areas remain • 28% of children in rural area do not go large at all levels of to kindergarten. education, with rural children being worse • About half of 15 year-old school chil- off. dren are not competent in reading, mathematics or sciences (PISA). About half of chil- dren come out of school lacking skills for healthy and successful life. institutions to deal with children with disabilities slows More than half of down their inclusion. Ensuring inclusion of all children LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE students, according in education is part of Moldova’s international obliga- to PISA 2009 (OECD tions as per UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Programme for Inter- Disabilities, Convention on Rights of the Child and In- national Student As- ternational Convention on Elimination of Racial Dis- sessment), are only crimination, among others. partially competent in reading, mathe- matics or science and are lagging far PROGRESS MADE: behind their peers in neighbouring countries. • Code of Education was approved for im- proved education quality, enrolment and About 1,800 children with disabilities remain in special compulsory education until the age of 18. schools and more than half of Roma children are ex- • Number of children with disabilities in regu- cluded from education. Many face stigma and discrim- lar schools increased to over 4,495 and num- ination. ber of children with disabilities in special and auxiliary schools is declining. Psycho-peda- Only half of teachers believe that children with disabil- gogical assistance services for children with ities should study in regular schools. Children with disabilities are available in all districts. mental disabilities are even more stigmatized than children with physical disabilities. The lack of support • Quality education standards for general services and low capacity of staff in regular education schools from the perspective of child-friend- ly school were approved in 2013. All children creating services at community level and in- in Moldovan schools now benefit from a creasing the capacity of the teachers to work school curriculum that prioritises the devel- with all children in regular classes, with the opment of competencies. support of parents and community. • All recent graduates of pedagogical universi- • Strengthen capacity of the staff of national ed- ties are able to use child-centred educational ucation institutions and support services in- approach in the classes thanks to the revised cluding district psycho-pedagogical assistance curricula. services, to foster inclusion of every child in regular schools. • Roma community mediators are now part of the social assistance system and support • Strengthen existing educational and manage- Roma children in Roma densely populated ment structures in the context of ongoing re- communities in accessing education and oth- forms and decentralisation policies. Actions er services. will lead towards improved school manage- ment, strengthened evaluation system and curricula implementation. This will also include capacity building for the implementation of WHAT REMAINS the quality education standards for schools from the perspective of child-friendly schools, TO BE DONE: as well as the development of improved meth- • Continue inclusion of children with disabilities ods of assessment for children in primary and Roma children in regular schools. school and the action plan for prevention of vi- olence in schools and in-service training on • Ensure access of young children to education child-centred education of teachers in all by enlarging the network of kindergartens in schools. the country, especially the rural areas. • Develop pre-school education funding formu- la, review general education funding formula References and introduce the respective coefficients to -en (1) National Bureau of Statistics “Education in Moldova”, 2013/2014, sure inclusive and equitable education. http://www.statistica.md/public/files/publicatii_electronice/Educatia/ Educatia_RM_2014.pdf • Improve quality of education and ensure that (2) ROMA in the REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA in areas of their compact Moldovan children gain skills and competen- population, UN Moldova, 2013; http://www.unicef.org/moldova/ro/ cies required in the adulthood and to support Raport_ROMA_rom2013.pdf competitiveness of the Moldovan economy (3) Assessment of pupil’s, parents’ and teachers’ opinion regarding the inclusion of children with disabilities in regular schools, UNICEF, 2014; http://www.unicef.org/moldova/resources_20169.html (4) National Bureau of Statistics “Education in Moldova”, 2013/2014, HOW TO ACHIEVE IT: http://www.statistica.md/public/files/publicatii_electronice/Educatia/ Educatia_RM_2014.pdf • Increase the number of children with disabili- (5) http://www.edu.md/file/Licitatie/1%20Raport%20PISA%20 ties and Roma children in regular schools by 2009+%20FT.pdf.