In Azerbaijan, only 40 percent of 2 million 730 thousand children have access to preschool educational institutions (kindergartens). This statement was made by Zahid Oruc, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the Milli Majlis, during the discussion of the new draft law “On Children's Rights”.
It is interesting to know, what are the main reasons for the low percentage of children attending kindergartens?
Preschool education specialist Khalida Musayeva spoke to AzEdu.az on the topic.
According to her, one of the main problems is the excessively strict standards established in the current legislation regarding the construction of preschool educational institutions:
“Despite Zahid Oruc's speech on children's rights, it is important to approach the issue considering the existing capabilities of the Republic of Azerbaijan. It is known that approximately 1370 kindergartens currently operating in the country can cover only 16-17 percent of children in total. Considering newly built kindergartens and private institutions, this indicator reaches a maximum of 20 percent.
The remaining children are mainly covered through alternative forms of preschool education and preparation programs carried out at home, which accounts for approximately 36-38 percent. However, according to strategic goals, the level of enrollment in preschool education is planned to reach 90 percent by 2030. As can be seen, serious difficulties exist in this area.
These standards require large areas, which further complicates the process, especially in large and densely populated cities where land scarcity is an issue. Despite this, no mitigating changes have yet been implemented in the legislation”.
Many kindergartens operating in both Baku and the regions are in need of major repairs:
“For this reason, the main hope is currently directed towards alternative models. It is considered possible to increase the level of children's involvement in preschool education through two-shift education, school preparation groups, day care centers, and other alternative forms. Although the Ministry has put forward various initiatives in this direction in recent years, the large amount of required financial resources slows down the process.
The construction of new schools and kindergartens in Karabakh has led to a certain redirection of resources towards this area. Although this factor has had a certain impact on the overall process, bringing kindergartens in the regions to full operational capacity could enable an increase in coverage percentage in the future. During the Karabakh conflict, some internally displaced families were temporarily housed in kindergartens. Although some of these families were relocated to new residential buildings in subsequent years, there are still families residing in kindergartens. The gradual relocation of these families to their permanent residences could create conditions for opening additional places in kindergartens”.
The privatization of more than 80 large-capacity kindergartens in the past and the subsequent change in their operational direction have also negatively affected the coverage level of preschool education:
“The number of children admitted to kindergartens can be tracked to some extent through the electronic registration system. However, one could talk at length about the reasons. If we approach the issue from the perspective of protecting children's rights, ideally every child should be involved in preschool education and, after completing this stage, move on to the next level of education. Unfortunately, this is not fully possible at present.
Some of these institutions cannot be fully controlled by the state because they are not licensed or officially registered. This also makes it difficult to accurately assess the overall picture”.
Future changes in legislation could improve the situation in this area:
“It is expected that a requirement will be imposed for education and development-oriented centers to also conduct official registration of children. In this case, the actual number of children involved in preschool education can be determined more accurately, and overall coverage indicators can be increased”.
