STAY IN SCHOOL – Scholarship Project for Preventing School Dropout in Costești
Partner & sponsor: Vodafone Romania Foundation
What we do: We offer monthly scholarships to 50 children from Costești who are at risk of school dropout due to the social and economic situation of their families. The scholarships complement the social and educational services (after-school, cafeteria, non-formal education) provided daily by the Hercules Center.
Why: To combat poverty, the main cause of school dropout among the most vulnerable children in the community; to also encourage children’s love for reading and learning, and to increase their intrinsic motivation to learn.
Who benefits from the project: 50 schoolchildren aged 6 - 14; their parents and families
Context
Child poverty is one of the main causes of early school dropout in Costești and in any disadvantaged rural community in Romania. In a country where 52.2% of children live in poverty and 75% of poor children live in rural areas, any effective intervention in favor of schooling must go hand in hand with concrete actions to fight poverty.
In Costești and the neighboring villages, the school dropout rate painfully reflects the extent of the problems faced by the vast majority of families. Chronic unemployment, lack of any economic opportunities in the region, emigration of parents abroad, family disintegration, alcoholism, domestic violence, the use of minors for fieldwork instead of school, and inadequate living conditions - all these factors promote school dropout before completing the middle school cycle and perpetuate inherited poverty from generation to generation in a vicious circle that is hard to break.
Children from such families – the majority of children in the community – go to school hungry, poorly dressed, with undone homework, without books and school supplies, demotivated by the lack of support and involvement from their families. At school, they feel excluded, helpless, lose their self-esteem, and often develop behavioral issues. Slowly but surely, they become children and teenagers who are old before their time, who do not understand the purpose of education and do not aspire to anything. Because poverty steals dreams, hopes, rights, and the impulse to ask questions and find solutions.
Goals and objective
,,Stay in School" aims to combat early school dropout by reducing child poverty, creating adequate study conditions and building intrinsic motivation to learn so that children choose long-term education. We are currently addressing living conditions, education and character development of the children to break the vicious circle of poverty for the future.
What children and parents receive:
- Monthly study scholarships, conditional on attendance at school and the Day Center
- Free access to social, educational, and health services: 2 meals per day; monthly health assessments; daily help with homework and school subjects; access to study space and modern educational resources (computer room, library); educational activities (IT, English, debate, reading, music, financial and health education); creative workshops, learning-through-play activities meant to develop skills and self-confidence, stimulate curiosity, and foster a love of learning.
- Information, education and involvement of parents: psychological and parenting counseling sessions for scholarship recipients’ parents; encouragement of positive parenting; parents’ involvement in the project to strengthen family relationships and mutual understanding between children and families.
Profile of beneficiary children
50 children (6-14 years old), students at risk of school dropout, from families with socio-economic problems (income lower than 300 lei/member, no social scholarship from school; single-parent/ disorganized/ large families, sick parents, children left in the care of relatives by emigrating parents); children with significant school gaps, children with high learning potential, children developing inadequate behaviors, children who do not receive parental support/lacking a positive educational model (e.g., parents with up to 8 years of schooling, and/or older siblings who have dropped out of school – it is well-known that the family model, especially the sibling model, is decisive in the decision to drop out of school).
Scholarship eligibility criteria
For all children included in the project, social surveys are carried out. The children’s school and social situation is constantly monitored. The Hercules Association team – teachers, educators, social workers – works closely with the school teachers and the children’s families to track the children’s progress.
The scholarship is awarded in monthly installments and can only be used by children for purchasing school supplies, books, clothing, footwear, other educational materials, food, and transportation. It is conditioned by: proper and responsible spending of the scholarship, school attendance (95% presence), active and continuous involvement in the project and at least one parent/guardian attending 90% of the information and parenting sessions. If a scholarship is revoked, the next beneficiary from the waiting list will be included in the project.
Stay in School is a project conceived and implemented by the Hercules Association and is funded by the Vodafone Romania Foundation. The scholarship project complements the social and educational services offered daily at the Hercules Center, a day center supported by H. Stepic CEE Charity.
