specific needs of children and elderly left behind as a ... - IOM Moldova

CHAPTER I
ral); “I don’t go to school... because my parents wouldn’t let me... I need
to take care of the household” (III_C_22). There are cases in the rural
area when school does not represent a priority in comparison with
other activities. This is tolerated by parents, legal guardians or other
people taking care of the children: “ I have to help on the fields and in
the vinery and I have to skip school” (FG _C_1_urban); “Usually it is all
on the child’s shoulders who already has to decide for his/her parents, he/
she is the one who works in the household” (FG_EC_rural); “I have to
take care of animals, to cook, to wash the dishes, to clean the house and
the yard so that everything would be in order” (III_C_1).
Caring for their little brothers/sisters is another aspect highlighted by
the collected data that takes a lot of the children’s time and influences
their school results: “I sit with my little sister... and when I stay with her
I cannot work, she’s capricious and she cries after me (III_C_6); “I started
to have other duties... the house, my sister, cooking… I have a lot of absences,
I just don’t have time” (III_C_19); “When my sister got sick, she
had a fever of 39 degrees, I had to stay home for a week, and I didn’t go
to school, I took care of her, I gave her medicine, I took her to the doctor”
(III_C_21). Thus, elder children become mother and father for their
little sisters and brothers.
The experts revealed that all new responsibilities have an impact on the
way children attend school and on their arrival time at school: “He sleeps
until 10am and comes to the third lesson” (FG_EC_rural).
A form master of an 11 th grade class told us during a focus group with experts
the story of a boy left behind as a consequence of his parents’ migration:
“He’s facing difficult times, he’s cooking, he’s taking care of the household.
He told me that he came late to school because he had to press the grapes”
(FG_EC_rural).
A teacher noticed during focus-group discussions that children ask permission
not to go to class because they have additional tasks, parental
ones: “Some people came to clean the vinery and I had to bring them food”
(FG_EC_rural).
In these situations children do not manage to do their homework in the
evening or at night, they adopt a superficial attitude towards some subjects
or they totally ignore them: “I do my homework in the evening, but I don’t
manage to do all of it...” (III_C_6).
Parents should go to school in order to be informed about their children’s
education, by the teacher or class teacher and the child has to
know that they are checked up on. The children whose parents are
abroad are not always sure that their parents are aware of their school
situation: “The parent goes abroad for a better life for his child but the
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