The story of a child who dropped out of school and fell into the passion of drinking. Mother: I took him to work, if he doesn’t want to go to school

In Romania, there are children who drop out of school and fall into the passion of drinking. Some drink alcohol as children, when they are sent to work with adults.

What is worse is that there are situations in which not only the director does not know where these children are, when they are missing, but also the parents do not see them for days.

The PRO TV News campaign “Failed Romania” talks about the students’ disinterest in school, but also the family’s disinterest in their future.

Where early school leaving occurs

In all the chaos and confusion of education reforms, early school leaving is developing in communities where Romanians no longer see any priority in building the children’s future, because they are busy living from one day to the next. In Lipovăț, Vaslui county, near the old school, with a toilet in the yard, lies an unfinished building.

The full and deputy director stated that the construction site was stopped because the company hired by the city hall to carry out the work went bankrupt. The building, which was supposed to be finished as early as 2019, would have also had indoor toilets and laboratories and a place to have a hot meal, that is, everything that the old building does not have.

And as soon as the bell rings and the teachers return to class, one of the students passes right in front of the school with a cart. He is in the sixth grade, but he has already been absent for several days. The reason? He is very busy during this autumn period, when people in the country are stocking up on wood, and he makes money from transport, for a fee, with the cart.

Child: “Yesterday I made 200 lei…”

What are the effects of school dropout on Romanians

The effects of abandonment are felt over time, through the labor force crisis, poverty, and poverty affects our quality of life.

Anca Popa is a teacher trainer and specialist in inclusion, within an NGO with national coverage in the field of education. The association of which he is a member co-opts, among other things, teachers and volunteer teachers, to help, with teaching, in vulnerable areas, especially where there is a crisis of teaching staff.

Anca Popa, education specialist: “-They are not numbers, they are children who leave the system”.

The story of a 13-year-old boy who stopped going to school

In the commune of Coarnele Caprei, where most of the locals are shepherds and cattle breeders, a 13-year-old boy was nowhere to be found when the director and female conductors looked for him. They went to his father, according to an aunt.

Aunt: “He came, he said, “come at least to see you face to face, at school.” He told them that the child no longer wants to go to school. He is taken to his mother.”

Except that the boy can’t be found at his mother’s either.

The woman says she has two children with the one she separated from, they have joint custody of the children, but they decided to raise each one by one. The youngest boy, who is absent from school, stayed with his mother and would have been enrolled year after year while he lived with his mother.

Things changed when the son reached secondary school – he wanted to move in with his father, after learning that he was temporarily working in agriculture in Italy and found work abroad for the child’s brother as well, when the latter arrived at the age of majority.

Mother: “I also took him to work in Cotnari picking grapes. By September.”
Reporter: “-Well, so he didn’t go to school anymore.”
Mother: “-What should I do if he doesn’t want to go to school. He was there before, he did work before, he worked at Cotnari. Last year it was, but it worked with me. He was at school, but what if he wasn’t going to school? At least I said I would take him under my protection. As long as I kept him under me, he was a good child. I took him to work, if he doesn’t want to go to school? What should I do to him? Shall I let him wander, on the road?”

The mother claimed that she could be at a neighbor’s house, who still gives her food.

Neighbor: “It was yesterday, he got drunk, he was a bit drunk and left. He is 13 years old, but he has been smoking since he was seven. He was dead drunk, he still stole my bottle of wine from here on the sidewalk.”

According to WORLD VISION Romania, due to poverty, one in ten parents withdraws at least one child from school temporarily or permanently in order to meet the expenses.