Human development experts agree that the single most important period for brain development is between birth and age 5 — yet only about a third of severely disadvantaged children in Romania receive ANY formal education before the age of six. Statistics are not collected on preschool attendance rates but it is generally acknowledged that attendance of the poorest children lags far behind the attendance of better off children. The strategy behind FCG is to increase attendance of at-risk children so they have the chance to learn what other children are learning. Teachers take daily attendance at 9:00 and post the attendance chart on the classroom wall. OvidiuRo representatives conduct frequent spot checks of the attendance reports.
Number of enrolled children attending regularly by year
Monthly attendance rates
On average, 85% of the 1375 FCG children (age 3-6) attended regularly.
On average, 81% of FCG children (age 3-6) attended regularly.
In the first month of the program, October 2010, 836 (73%) children of the 1145 qualifying children aged 3-6 attended daily. In May 2011, the percentage had risen to 83%. Many local coordinators noted that this was by far the highest kindergarten attendance EVER. Two communities observed that attendance of their primary school students also increased.