ORM School System

We work with over 400 children, the majority of whom have special needs and some degree of intellectual disability. When we discussed our desire to start education we were met with resistance. There was the incorrect belief that children with special needs have no place in any educational system, that they should be confined to the institution system.

We approached local schools to see if they would consider children with motor disability, but alas we were refused. Not only because these were children and young adults who had received no education and would have to start at the beginning, but also because of the fact that the education system itself is poorly funded and the buildings themselves could not facilitate the need for universal access.

The schools themselves had no running water, bathrooms were small holes in the ground outside  that a wheelchair bound person would not be able to navigate, made even more difficult when the outside temperatures would reach -20deg C. There was no central heating in the schools, teachers were dealing with overcrowding and there was no support networks in place, no teaching assistants, no special needs teachers and no programme for inclusion of children with disability.

10 years later little has changed, there is still no running water in our very busy town, gas was introduced into the local schools only 2 years ago and heating is provided for only certain months of the year. Bathrooms are still holes in the ground outside and no ramps or universal access systems have been installed. There are still no teaching assistants or class room assistants. Even for children with disability living in the community, as opposed to residential care, their right to education is very limited and in most cases denied. The already stretched education system in Moldova was put under further pressure over the last number of years with the mass emigration of teachers abroad in the hope of a better life and a chance to send money home to their own families.

For this reason at the end of 2003 we advertised nationally for teachers to work with ORM and we set up a school on the orphanage grounds. We now have over 67 children completing their main stream education, the only difference being this education is not happening in a department of Education facility in the community. While not an ideal situation, until the national system changes to include these children, it is favourable to receiving no education.

We have children in classes from junior infants all the way up to 6th form and ages range from 4 to 38 years. Our teachers have done such amazing work that it is an utter joy to see the children read, write, tackle mathematics, language and social science classes. Some have even taken on English as a 3rd language (after Romanian and Russian). These wonderful children have taught everyone that the impossible is possible when you believe.