Overuse of boarding schools for children with disabilities in Europe and Central Asia
Boarding schools and residential education facilities lead to segregation and separation of children from their families
Discrimination, a weak social welfare system and a lack of statutory and primary family support services are contributing to the overuse of institutionalizing children with disabilities and children from marginalised communities in boarding schools across Europe and Central Asia.
Boarding schools and residential education facilities lead to segregation and separation of children from their families. These institutions fail to meet children’s needs, deny them the right to a family environment and put them at a heightened risk of sexual, physical and emotional violence, abuse and neglect, amounting to deeply traumatic experiences for children, with lifelong, negative implications.
Action in the region, including the closure of residential schools in Moldova, proves that boarding schools can and should be replaced by inclusive education, family support services and family-based alternative care.
Closure of residential special schools in Moldova
As part of ongoing deinstitutionalisation efforts in Moldova, the Government closed all general boarding schools. Only two residential special schools remain for children with mainly sensory disabilities, and these are also in the process of being closed.
Some of these closed facilities have been repurposed for social services or as resource centres in support of inclusive education.
Recognising boarding schools and residential special schools as types of alternative care and applying deinstitutionalisation processes to them, such as child protection system reform, social service workforce strengthening, social assistance and comprehensive education reform, were the primary interventions to ensure the establishment of disability inclusive education across the country.
Because boarding schools are now closed, there is space for assessing medical-pedagogical commissions of children with special educational needs at the local level, children are now diverted to non-residential, family-based care in the local community wherever possible, with all necessary support for their families.
Pedagogical commissions and multi-disciplinary gate-keeping commissions have now been replaced by inclusive education centres to assess children and support every child with special educational needs to access the support they require so that they can participate in education without being separated from their families and communities.
Now, all schools in Moldova are inclusive.
System innovation, like in Moldova, has shifted in recent years to include rethinking how organisations operate within an established system, aiming to provide the right conditions to flourish while still building services around children and families. At times, this has involved complex negotiations at both national and local levels.
The closure of boarding schools is only possible when practitioner training, practice tools and processes, and support for families, work consistently towards the desired outcomes and ways of working.
The successful closure of boarding schools, as seen in Moldova, can also be attributed to inter-sectoral and multi-disciplinary collaboration, political commitment and strategic leadership at all levels. Although the closure of boarding schools requires investment in the establishment of community-based education and social services, it offers significant social and financial benefits for countries in the long run.
Policies related to boarding schools for vulnerable children in the Europe and Central Asia region need to be revised to emphasize the need to implement inclusive education and care, and to promote the transition from institutional to family-based solutions for children who need alternative care.
