For Some Moldovans, Schooling Comes Via a Broken Mobile Phone

Now, the girls, Ana and Dana, get their schooling through the cracked screen of Birca's mobile phone. The family does not own a computer, nor does it have Wifi at home.

"Since this online education method started, it has been complicated for us," Birca told BIRN. "I have two school-age girls who both sit and study on the same phone. One is on the phone one day, the other the next."

Natalia Birca is raising alone all her four children in the Roscani village, about 40 kilometres south-east of Chisinau. Photo: BIRN/Madalin Necsutu

It's a plight not uncommon in Europe's poorest country.

According to the latest data, of some 333,000 school-age children, "about 52,770 [16 per cent] have problems with schooling due to a lack of computer technology," said Natalia Grau, secretary of state at Moldova's ministry of education.

No Internet access

Since March 2020, when the pandemic took hold across Europe, schooling in Moldova has moved almost exclusively online, with the exception of a few months in autumn last year.

Without a computer or a Wifi connection, Birca has to keep topping up data on her mobile phone. She says she asked the local authorities and the school for help getting hold of a computer, without success.

"We buy internet recharge cards for 20 lei [one euro] because we often run out of them," she said. "We don't have Wifi or digital television. We consume 20 gigabytes of Internet per week and pay up to 1,000 lei [around 50 euros]," per month.

Dana is in her second grade and says she wishing a laptop so she can attend properly to her daily online lessons. Photo: BIRN/Madalin Necsutu

The ministry of education estimates that around 33,735 children, or more...