Premium
Save the Children Romania is extending the summer remedial education programme for nearly 3,160 children from vulnerable groups and is opening summer kindergartens.
According to a press release from Save the Children Romania sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday, of the 3,156 children from families with economic difficulties and whose parents are working abroad 300 are pre-schoolers. Camps will also be organised for at least 1,000 children with parents working abroad.
The "Summer Kindergarten" programme has been running since 1998, based on the early education curriculum and in keeping with the development areas of children. The programme is aimed at pre-school children who have not been to kindergarten and are preparing to enter the preparatory grade or to attend state kindergartens.
In the 25 years of summer activities, 16,250 children have been supported pedagogically and socio-economically - 10,678 in the "Summer Kindergarten" and 5,572 in the summer remedial education programme.
Romania has 15.6% of young people aged 18-24 who have at most graduated from secondary school, although the target set by Romania in 2010 was to reduce the phenomenon to 11.3% by the end of 2020.
Poverty and the risk of social exclusion have repercussions on the chances of vulnerable children to obtain an average above 5 in the national evaluation exam, said representatives of Save the Children Romania.
Non-participation in pre-school education disproportionately affects rural children, with the enrollment rate in pre-school education at the age of 5 years standing at 87.8% for children in cities compared to 80.9% for those in villages.
Some 79% of Roma children aged up to 17 are at risk of poverty, and in 2020, 51% of Roma children aged 6 to 15 attended schools where all or most of their peers are Roma.
The results of the national evaluation exam show the disparities in education and the correlation between the risk of poverty and social exclusion and the grades obtained by vulnerable children. In rural areas, for example, almost 40% of children failed an average of 5, with the national average of those scoring above 5 being around 75%.
Save the Children Romania representatives call on the Ministry of Education to collect and analyse data reflecting the impact of family socio-economic status on national test results, in order to take "appropriate measures to support and compensate for disadvantages".
