IMPACT
Quality Early Education for All Children in Romania
Since 2004, we’ve been developing educational programs that empower teachers through engaging literacy-focused training sessions. Moreover, we supply teachers and children with captivating illustrated books and valuable resources to cultivate a love for reading from an early age.
impact
preschool children and their families
professors
books
training sessions
Reports
2022 - 2023
Reports
2021 - 2022
Reports
2020 - 2021
report archive
2006 - 2019
LEGEA 248/2015
Every Child in Kindergarten
A program carried out between 2010 and 2015 aimed to prevent school dropout by prioritizing early education in local communities and encouraging parents from vulnerable backgrounds to bring their children to kindergarten daily.
CONTEXT
Remedial programs dedicated to primary school students have a limited impact if they haven't received adequate cognitive stimulation during their preschool years.
However, providing preschool education to children from disadvantaged communities can significantly reduce the risk of early school dropout and increase the graduation rate after the mandatory ten years of schooling.
Investing in the education of these children ensures a more educated future, offering them better employment opportunities and increased chances of becoming active, contributing citizens.
Every Child in Kindergarten
- the three objectives -
1
Increase the number of children enrolled and attending kindergarten daily
2
Reduce the need for remedial interventions in the school years
3
Empower parents and local communities
Actions
Food coupons conditioned by children’s attendance at kindergarten have proven to be a highly effective tool in motivating disadvantaged families to bring their children to kindergarten every day.
In addition to coupons, children receive supplies for classroom activities, clothing and footwear twice a year.
As the state child allowance in Romania (unconditional) was 42 lei during that period, this incentive represented a significant increase in income for families surviving on child allowances.
We’ve worked consistently with public authorities and local teams to ensure the program runs coherently, seamlessly integrating it into the local education system.
Every September, we organized training sessions with local teams to clarify roles and activities and provide guidance on the methodology.
We collaborated with early education experts, including Betsy Grob from Bank Street College in New York, to conduct training sessions for teachers in Every Child in Kindergarten communities.
Careful attendance monitoring is essential to the Every Child in Kindergarten methodology.
Teachers noted daily attendance until 9 a.m. and excused only absences with a valid reason.
To ensure the accuracy of attendance records, the OvidiuRO team conducts unannounced visits each month, meticulously verifying the attendance data.
In addition to daily attendance at kindergarten, the second condition for receiving food coupons at the end of the month is parental participation in two activities: Parent’s Day (a monthly activity with children and parents) and Parent on Duty (parents spend a day in kindergarten, assisting the teacher).
These interactions with educators in the learning environment improved parents’ comfort in collaborating with teachers and appreciating children’s progress. They also helped teachers better understand the children’s home situations.
The “Together for Better Health” component, added in 2012 with funding from GlaxoSmithKline, has been instrumental in providing impoverished children with access to medical consultations and treatment. It has also facilitated the involvement of health mediators, leading to an increase in vaccination rates and providing education to both parents and children on basic hygiene practices.
Food coupons worth 50 lei per month
Food coupons conditioned by children’s attendance at kindergarten have proven to be a highly effective tool in motivating disadvantaged families to bring their children to kindergarten every day.
In addition to coupons, children receive supplies for classroom activities, clothing and footwear twice a year.
As the state child allowance in Romania (unconditional) was 42 lei during that period, this incentive represented a significant increase in income for families surviving on child allowances.
Building local teams
We’ve worked consistently with public authorities and local teams to ensure the program runs coherently, seamlessly integrating it into the local education system.
Every September, we organized training sessions with local teams to clarify roles and activities and provide guidance on the methodology.
We collaborated with early education experts, including Betsy Grob from Bank Street College in New York, to conduct training sessions for teachers in Every Child in Kindergarten communities.
Attendance monitoring
Careful attendance monitoring is essential to the Every Child in Kindergarten methodology.
Teachers noted daily attendance until 9 a.m. and excused only absences with a valid reason.
To ensure the accuracy of attendance records, the OvidiuRO team conducts unannounced visits each month, meticulously verifying the attendance data.
Parental involvement
In addition to daily attendance at kindergarten, the second condition for receiving food coupons at the end of the month is parental participation in two activities: Parent’s Day (a monthly activity with children and parents) and Parent on Duty (parents spend a day in kindergarten, assisting the teacher).
These interactions with educators in the learning environment improved parents’ comfort in collaborating with teachers and appreciating children’s progress. They also helped teachers better understand the children’s home situations.
Door-to-door recruitment
Improving Health Conditions
Results
children from 45 rural communities
teachers
parents
Before implementing the Every Child in Kindergarten program, we encountered first-grade students who would start crying after writing just one line. The transition to primary school without kindergarten proved to be a really challenging leap for these young learners.
Partners
Thank You
We are grateful to all those who have chosen to get involved and support our programs for providing quality early education access to children from vulnerable groups.
- Ministry of Education
- County School Inspectorates, municipalities, and schools in the 45 targeted communities
- The Alex Fund
- Raiffeisen Bank
- Carrefour România
- KMG International (Rompetrol)
- Porsche România
- Cargill
- GSK (GlaxoSmithKline)
