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

The perception Children’s of labour education migration
already home I forget some things that I understood. My teacher helps me with
mathematics. She listens to me and when I get angry and nervous she tells
me not to because I destroy my nerves like this” (III_C_10). Still, sometimes
teachers are not perceived this way and the child has to solve his/her problems
all by him/herself, being bounded to the support of his/her migrant
parents: “If there is a conflict between us, we cannot ask our parents to solve it,
we have to do it on our own” (FG_C_2_rural); “You see, almost all our teachers
are from the village and the ones who came here from the city have worked
here long enough to know everybody and I fear that if I will talk to them they
will betray me and tell everybody” (FG_C_3_rural).
The study highlights problems the children left behind experience with
teachers; especially regarding the way children fulfill school requirements:
“The problem is more specific to adolescents especially when at school. I teach
Universal Literature and French and pupils have to read novels and there is
this girl who tells me that in a novel life is not described the right way and
that nowadays money rules the world and those novels do not teach us how
to live. I was surprised that this was said by a young lady whose parents are
abroad. This is her point of view. They get all their information from the computer,
they don’t go to the library or if they do, they do it rarely” (FG_EC_rural),
but also regarding teachers’ conduct and intervention level.
The problems a child whose parents are abroad has within the school life
are complex. Every party involved is looking for a solution to improve their
relations. In this context, the school psychologist is not always the option
children choose. Many schools do not provide psychological counseling,
or children left behind do not know about its existence and what these
services mean and even that they could talk to a specialist: “I don’t know;...
I don’t what he’s doing; the psychologist helps us a little” (FG_C_1_urban)
or, they do not trust them: “We do tests, and we answer questions and the
psychologist can see what we think about and what our attitude is towards
certain things and I think that a psychologist should be in every school, but
I didn’t talk to one because I don’t discuss my problems with a person I don’t
know” (FG_C_1_urban); “There is a teacher of psychology in our school and
she is really good, she can advise you. It depends on the type of problems you
have. If I have a personal issue I cannot talk to her about it... No one says
“Miss Tatiana, let me tell you my problem”... she is a psychologist, but I would
like to talk to a stranger” (FG_C_3_rural). A few interviewed children accept
and recognize the value of psychological intervention: “I talk once in
a while to the psychologist” (III_C_11); “When I was in Nisporeni I used to
talk to the school psychologist. We were getting along well and she was providing
support and advice” (III_C_19).
The importance of psychological services and its value are stated specialists
in the sphere from the rural and urban areas:
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