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

CHAPTER I
of this equilibrium would lead to failure of children left behind by parents
as a consequence of migration: “I have average marks and I am not very
content” (III_C_9).
The study unveiled that self-confidence in facing all tasks and school will
determine the behaviour of the child whose parents are abroad. Values
that guide a pupil’s behaviour are developed in the family and afterwards
at school. The level of acceptance, encouragement and a positive environment
will decide the educational success of these children: “I believe
that if their parents are with them when they are little, they teach
them what they have to learn and that’s how they know that they have
to study and get good marks every day and when their parents leave they
continue studying” (FG_C_3_rural); “If I don’t understand something I
always ask the teacher to help me, and she’s guiding me” (III_C_16). An
ambiguous and frustrating environment fraught with distrust and
deception leads to school failure: “I think that if a parent is at home they
are always there to see that you are going to school, and when you come
back, they check the marks and ask you why you got such marks and you
explain that you didn’t understand the topic. A mother is always checking
your notebook. If she is not there who is to check it? The grandmother? She
doesn’t understand” (FG_C_4_rural).
There is an interdependence between school results and the level of aspiration
(the need of self-fulfillment and self-awareness) of the pupil with
migrant parents, often reflected in their prospects for the future: “I want to
open a huge school where all children will come and study so that they would
be smart and intelligent” (III_C_12); “All I want for now is to study because
I want to become a judge” (E_18_15years old_female_family).
The collected data indicates that school results of a lonely child are influenced
by the aspirations of the social group (the family or school group)
he is a member of. The children cannot be “isolated” from the social environment
in which they operate and under the influence of which their consciousness
is developing, without which there is no way to talk about their
aspiration level: “It is important for us to go to school to get more knowledge.
That is what my mom says” (III_C_26). Problems with adults in this regard
can be noticed especially when children’s school results are under the
level of expectancies: “When I get low marks, under seven-eight... we fight
but anyway it’s ok” (III_C_3). Thus, no one asks children who are alone
daily about their physical and emotional condition encountered through
school or about their daily problems. They get in a desperate situation
and sometimes fail or even abandon school. Parents’ failure to participate
in their children’s school life is significant.
The aspirations of children left behind by parents working abroad increases
in relation with the aspirations of members of their group of ref-
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