Nova Makedonija: Police arrests will not solve child beggars problem

Nova Makedonija explains why police attempts to keep children away from begging in the streets fail.

According to First Children's Embassy in the World - Megjashi, picking children from the streets and placing them in day care centers, which they leave after a few hours, is not a sustainable solution. Long term solutions are needed, like engaging children in educational process and providing social apartments and employment for their family members.

The organization asks the Ministry of Labour and Social Politics to develop programs, which will encourage the street children to attend pre-school institutions, and increase the budget for education in order to provide more classes in the schools and employ more teachers. Other necessities to be provided for every child include hot meals, shoes, clothes, free books and school material.

Presently there are 2000 children living on the streets in Macedonia, and there are 18.500 children excluded from the elementary education. Nearly 30% of them are without parental care. In the past research conducted in Macedonia, the street children are divided into several groups: children without parental care, children with one parent, divorced parents' children, and children living in dysfunctional families. According to the Bureau for Social Affairs in Skopje, 15.5% of the street children are in pre-school age, 64% are aged 7 to 14, 88,5% of them express socially unacceptable behavior and 11,5 % express tolerable social behavior.

The problem of children living in the streets and begging is a problem of the entire society. It has to be approached in integrative manner, with all it's aspects taken into account.

Article by Dragan Jovanov

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