The Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Arbërie Nagavci participated in the launch of the report “Children in street situations”, which was compiled by UNICEF, while it was supported by the European Union Office in Kosova.
The ambassador of the European Union in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog, the Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, the head of UNICEF in Kosova, Nona Zichermann and the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Blerim Gashani, were also present at the report presentation ceremony.
On this occasion, Minister Nagavci thanked the EU and UNICEF Office in Kosova for the invitation to the launch of this report, which is special because of the very sensitive topic it addresses, while expressing the unstoppable commitment of the Ministry of Education and the Government of Kosovo to the implementation of the recommendations of the study, which are in line with government policies, in the best interest of our children.
Speaking about this disturbing phenomenon, Minister Nagavci announced that MESTI has launched the Child Protection Policy, which is based on the United Nations Convention for the Protection of Children (1989), the Constitution of the Republic of Kosova, the legislation on education, as well as in the best international and European child protection practices and standards.
Minister Nagavci has assessed that today’s study brings an overview of the situation of children in street situations in our country, which serves as a stable basis for the orientation of institutional actions towards the maximum reduction of this phenomenon.
Nagavci emphasized that the Ministry of Education has made and continues to make active efforts to address this issue, in many directions, starting with the prevention of dropouts and the response to non-enrollment in school, to continue with the process of preventing inclusion of children in hazardous work.
Further, the minister said that according to MESTI statistics, 130 children aged 6 to 17 years in 8 regions of Kosova are identified as children in street situations, where poverty and family problems are reported as the main causes of this situation.
Minister Nagavci also spoke about the preventive role that education has in this situation, while also mentioning the actions that the Ministry of Education has taken in this direction:
– Approval of didactic material (SCREAM Package) by the International Labor Organization for the prevention and elimination of hard child work (also translated into Serbian));
– Drafting of the package with 12 thematic modules for child protection, in accordance with the topics addressed by the Law on Child Protection;
– Development of two training modules for teachers in the field of prevention of dangerous forms of child labor, which are expected to be accredited.
In the end, Minister Nagavci congratulated UNICEF for this valuable study, while expressing gratitude to the European Union, which as always manages to effectively present support for our priorities as a Government and as a society.
The EU Ambassador, Tomas Szunyog said on this occasion that the EU wants to see the protection and improvement of the legislation in force, as the laws are still facing difficulties in implementation. He said that the EU and UNICEF remain committed to continuing support for the most vulnerable groups, which are children in street situations or at street risk.
Last modified: March 4, 2024
