19 April 2007, 23:30
Yusupova: Chechnya has no children rehabilitation program
The policy of adults has poor consequences for the most vulnerable group - children. Chechnya lacks boarding schools for children with disabilities. It also has no special institutions, where parents could leave their children while at work. Lilia Yusupova, leader of the "Sozidanie" (Creation) NGO (City of Gudermes), said about it in her interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
According to her, Chechen children face health problems, in particular, extremely poor diagnostic facilities.
"Not long ago, we went round schools in Chechen mountain districts together with our Moscow colleagues: the situation is depressing, school buildings are shabby, in need of major overhauls. Textbook deficit is especially acute," Ms. Yusupova accents another problem.
As explained by Yusupova, the Republic has no serious state-run post-war children's and adults' rehabilitation program. Moreover, the government has started liquidating boarding schools.
"In Chechnya, a lot of children are left just for themselves, since their parents are compelled to earn their trifle money somewhere in marketplaces. But there are no boarding schools," Ms. Yusupova says and adds that the number of orphans left in Chechnya after war is frightening: "Since over 200,000 perished during the war, you can imagine how many orphans they left."
Author: Alexandra Kondrasheva, CK correspondent
