Primary school years
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© UNICEF/Romania00345/Pirozzi |
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Children in a day care centre |
The family is the natural environment for the growth and well-being of children, all the way through adolescence. It was initially believed that children subject to exploitation in the worst forms of child labor and those in conflict with the law were mostly from institutions. As it turns out that many of these children actually have families, it is essential for decision-makers to better understand the structure and function of the family. In spite of some changes in modern Romanian society, gender inequities within the family persist, especially among vulnerable groups, and disobedience can result in corporal punishment.
Children from families in which one or both parents are absent are particularly vulnerable to exclusion, although many children from nuclear families also face exploitation and exclusion. The majority of daytime street children, as well as 82% of children in conflict with the law, have a nuclear family with both biological parents. Coming from a family with many children is linked to poverty and low educational levels, and is a risk factor – more working children are found in households with many family members. At least 30% of children living permanently on the streets have been subject to violence and abuse.
The Open Society Foundation’s Roma Inclusion Barometer 2007 indicated that 23% of Roma respondents have no education whatsoever, and a further 27% have only primary school.
Thirty per cent of Roma over the age of 11 do not attend school compared with 9% of non-Roma. Research in 2007 found that non-registration of births for Roma is 3 per cent, compared to 0.9 per cent for non-Roma.
The gross enrollment rate in primary education shows a declining trend since the 2003-2004 school year, when it peaked at 109.1%, and the primary education entry age was lowered to 6. In the 2007-2008 school year the gross enrollment rate for the primary education cycle reached 97.8%.
There has been a slight but constant increase in the primary school drop-out rate by cohort from 8.1% the 2003-2004 school year to 9.8% in 2007-2008.
