Why NGOs have become the engine of education in Moldova
Several organizations in Iasi help children in the region to have access to education, where the state does not do enough.
Text by Cătălin Hopulele
The failure of the Romanian state in reforming education is not only reflected in the poor results of the PISA tests or in the alarming rate of growth of functional illiteracy. It's related to the fact that in 2022 we still do not manage to offer the chance to all children in the country to education. Moreover, the gaps between those who resist in the system are enormous: students without possibilities struggle to finish eight classes and sit in the same classes with colleagues of theirs who do tutoring in all exam subjects.
Under these conditions, non-governmental organizations are struggling, in some cases, to take the place of the state. In other situations, offer more: health education, fight against bullying, psychological counseling or "job shadowing". "We cannot take the place of the state. We can't and we don't want to, we are a drop in an ocean," says Liviu Măgurianu, program director at the "Save the Children" organization, Iasi branch.
There are about 10 organizations in Iasi that provide educational support to children, but only four or five also support teenagers from high schools. It's hard to work together, especially since they often compete on the same lines of funding for projects. Even so, their capacity is small compared to the actual needs. "Our intervention, of ngos, comes in response to what does not exist in the state system. But it is quite niche and resources are scarce. We can afford, in total, I think, to help 200-300 children. The need is of the order of thousands", says Diana Păiuș, manager of the Iasi organization of the "Bethany Social Services Foundation".
Fighting the "vicious circle of poverty"
We go through cozy rooms, wallpapered with pictures, diagrams, calendars, in which the offices sit glued to each other. From the walls, dozens of children smile from photos as colorful and vivid as the drawings hung next to them. In the background, the phones ring, projects are debated, news is heard, and from one room there are applause and then voices of children laughing. It looks like a labyrinth with no way out, but through which Liviu easily guides me. I intuit his smile under the mask when he sees my perplexity: I really did not expect to find agitation and children enjoying at Save the Children Iasi?
"We worked with various categories of children, from street children, who were sitting through canals, at the station, in abandoned buildings, under train lines, to children with outstanding results at school, who come from families without any material possibility. We have projects where we work with children whose parents are abroad, but also with children who come from families with abuse or other problems", says Liviu Măgurianu, program coordinator within "Save the Children".
The NGO provides them with material, psychological support, the chance to re-integrate into society, but the major goal of the organization is not only immediate help. Liviu recounts that they are struggling to break the "vicious circle of poverty" and to send, support and encourage children to go to school. That's why they have dozens of educational projects, written and won over the years. There are "summer kindergarten" programs, in which children from disadvantaged backgrounds come during the summer to learn how to go to school in the fall, without fear. But also cultural and social events, such as participatory theatre, "Forum Theatre", where high school students stage bullying sequences, and children intervene and become actors in scenes to see how they would react in those situations.
"Education is a very important component. We see how you can get these kids out of their difficult situation, you will not be able to give them all the time materials, clothes, boots or boots winter winter. By taking them to school, so that they can achieve long-term results, this can break the vicious circle of poverty, abuse, violence in families, sometimes even in society. Some families believe that they will have a material prosperity if their child brings from begging or other sources 25 lei home in a day. It is a false impression – in the long run, both the child and the family lose", believes Liviu.
We stop in the office he shares with two other colleagues. In the room behind us a group of kindergarten children, some slightly older, give life to ideas in all kinds of creative exercises. In the office where we are now sitting only after a lightning session is over: it is Friday, February 25, Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine and "Save the Children" is already outlining the first measures to help the refugees. You then saw them on tv, representatives of the NGO from all over the country, sharing aid packages and toys with children who ran away with their parents from home without their plush friend.
How to count the successes: eight classes finished, the luckiest have the high school
Not all children in the NGO's programs will become scientific researchers, nor will they all have success stories describing how they defeated poverty to become neurosurgeons. Some will finish eight classes, others a vocational school, while the luckier children go to high school and even go to college. All these goals that society in general sees as normality, are a huge success for "Save the Children". Because the reality that I see on the ground is not described in the performance brochures of the Ministry of Education.
When they first arrive in school, the street children walk with their backs to the wall. I don't understand what's going on and why dozens of other kids are running in the hallways. "The difference is huge, it's like taking a young man who has lived all his life in the countryside and letting him in the middle of New York city do it," says Liviu. Children from very poor families get scared when they go to the toilet and come to tell the teacher that "there is a waterfall in the bathroom" when they turn on the tap or when they draw the water. For all of them, the maximum performance is not the crown at the end of the year, but the fact that they come to school every day, give "hello", socialize and have their homework done.
"We have also discussed this in seminars with teachers where we try to show them that these children need a different kind of attention and education. When they get home they have nowhere to actually put their notebook on the table: they sit five or seven in a room and for them, doing their homework on their knees or in bed is a much greater effort, but if they have done it is an exceptional result for us. We measure results differently for these children. The fact that he comes to the door to us, knocks, says 'hello', leaves the backpack, wipes himself on his boots and enters to work is a result. For the others it means maybe nothing, but we pay specialists, professionals to allocate time for this: for these children to stay around reliable adults who change their destinies, their lives", says Liviu.
In Romania, education is free only in legislation
"Save the Children" also has programs with teenagers or young people over the age of 18 who still need help finding a purpose. For children from rural areas with great results, but without possibilities, they offer scholarships for them to come to Iasi, to learn in a good high school and to be able to support their family all this time. For those up to 18 years of age or even older, different programs are made to help them choose a career to be passionate about. Now, for example, a project is underway where they do computer graphic design or animation. "We are talking about young people who do not have access to pay for such a course because it is quite expensive, it is held every week, and in the end they receive a diploma that certifies that they are qualified in this field. They are very good courses and, in general, sought after including by students from the Faculty of Arts", explains Liviu Măgurianu.
Such support is needed because the studies made by the organization show that education is free in Romania only on paper. In reality, the costs are huge for families without income. In the "Save the Children" estimate, it takes 3,000 lei per year at a minimum to support a child in school only with the essentials. But the more the family's resources increase, the greater the investment, and in most schools in urban communities, children are trained outside of classes by teachers. The already existing gap will widen between those who receive tutoring and those who barely manage to come to school.
"The children we work with will never be favored. They do not contribute to the school fund, the class fund, nor do they come with gifts at the celebrations. A child who is an Olympian in survival cannot cope with a child who has a background in mathematics, in Romanian language, in English every week. His fight begins daily: he must have something to eat, what to wear and what to put on," says Liviu.
The children's desire to learn is a fantastic one: there are families with many siblings in which school is done in shifts. Those who learn in the morning come home and teach the equipment: the sneakers, the jacket and the backpack pass to those who leave in exchange two: they learn in the afternoon.
Mobile school, on the bank of the Bahlui River or in the field
One of the oldest projects in the field of education of "Save the Children" seems and adored by children: if students do not come to school, the organization brings the school to them. In a small caravan attached to the car he wears about 300 interactive educational drawings with three levels of weight. I go weekly to Iasi, to the disadvantaged areas, and periodically through the county to the more remote rural communities. I pull the caravan to the outskirts of the village, pull out the floors, and the children sit fascinated with the hours and enjoy themselves. Many catch from there the craving to go to school, even if the road is not easy for them.
"If you can't come to school yourself, the school comes to you. So we go and work with them on the road, in the field, we know them, we earn their trust, because we go to sometimes complicated communities, and many of the people who were standing in the streets saw that they manage to get out of this difficult life situation. What if it's successful? Well, it's like a magnet for them: we play games, then sports around the "school", the drawings are interactive, everything is captivating. The school opens and tightens up, we take it where it's needed."
"You can't walk as broken as we do on the street"
Always going to disadvantaged communities for more than a decade, the people from "Save the Children" have slowly transformed from teachers to students. They learned three things from the children: to be resilient (to be like metals that do not give way no matter how often they are hit), to be creative and to be empathetic. It surprised the children's creativity in the art of survival, in which they get money daily, to live, selling cardboards or iron. Their "purchases" are the exchanges of clothes and other goods. Everything, without losing their appetite to learn.
And out of this craving is born empathy. An employee of "Save the Children" often went to the disadvantaged communities in Iasi where he worked only with street children, who were not institutionalized nor had families to care for them. Going month by month to help them, to find everything they needed, at some point his sneakers broke off, they almost broke.
"The children saw and said – 'look, man, daniel has his shoes torn, you can't do that. He's a personality, he does so much, he talks to us, he plays with us, he can't.' And the children who were literally standing on the street at night shook hands and at the next meeting they came with a pair of sneakers and gave it to Daniel. 'These are yours, that you can't walk as broken as we are on the street.' That's great," says Liviu, and the smile behind the mask stretches to his eyes.
But he shrugs his shoulders to shake off an oppressive burden. Uncultivated, this empathy of children will not remain with them throughout their lives. Rejected by state institutions, often even by society, children develop a special hatred towards others and "without a doubt they will turn against us".
Therapy and "job shadowing" – new methods in Romania, patented in developed countries
In Iasi there are over ten NGOs that have programs that help children from all over Moldova, of all ages, to have access to education. This is what the "Bethany Social Services Foundation" does, which, in addition to material support and access to education, also offers one important thing: children with disabilities and young people in need are given the chance for therapeutic support. To sit face to face with a psychologist, someone with whom he can talk to some things that have become taboo at home. Things for which they often fear that their parents would not understand them or their friends would judge them.
Unlike "Save the Children", many of "Bethany's" programs focus on the area of teenagers and young people. I receive scholarships to stay in school, for vocational guidance and professional development. Children from rural areas from families with very low material resources, who would not have reached the elite high schools in Iasi, and now they excel within them.
"We also have psychological support services for them: there are many changes at this age and in conjunction with entering a larger community of a vulnerable position, a community with a lot of group pressure, with a lot of bullying in the high school area. So our intervention also consists in providing the services of a psychologist and a social worker. It's not just about the money... money is the easiest to find. There is a clear need for long-term assistance", believes Diana Păiuș, manager of the Iasi branch of Bethany.
The organization also coordinates a program called "START", in which there are currently about 40 high school children, in which teenagers also benefit from a series of "job shadowing" projects. They have been in contact, since high school, with people from companies to see what is required in the labor market. A demand that differs, too often, from what high schools and universities in Romania offer.
The ultimate goal is not for young people to commit directly to those companies, although in some areas, such as IT, students from specific profiles end up doing so. The goal is to see what a job is, a job, and to be able to make a calculated decision about college.
"We want the student to have clarity in what the job market means, not just academically. To see what are the advantages or disadvantages of a job, what it needs to excel, to be classified as well as possible in the area where it wants to work", says Diana Păiuș.
Compulsory course: how to be sure of college since high school
She was surprised to see that all the teenagers in the program are motivated, active and have a great openness to learning, and there is a difference from high school students in trouble-free families. For the children of "SMART", it is already a success that they have reached high school and are struggling to prove to themselves and those around them that they deserve to be there and deserve to be on top. Now, Diana says they have a problem with a fellow who learns and works on her passions and 13 hours a day. They no longer know how to stop him and are already worried about his health. "He tests a lot of things, now he draws, he sculpts, he has a lot of activities that somehow bring him a penny because he has talent and he capitalizes on those things, but he's always learning techniques over new techniques," says Diana.
It's important, she thinks, for a student when he reaches the end of high school to figure out what a profession is and what college to choose. The huge university dropout in Romania is also caused by these hastily, uninformed decisions of young people. Diana would like the "Bethany" fellows not to have both Social Work and Management as their option. They know from the start where they want to go and what that entails. "Because at the moment there is not really an opportunity for them to be guided correctly to their professional path in the state system."
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