All-day stay of the child in the nursery group of state preschools Kindergarten from September it will be 50 euros, while parents of older children will pay 49 euros.
This was told to the "News" from Ministry of Education.
The more expensive stay is so far the only difference compared to the previous year - there is a lack of space, the Ministry of Education admits, and parents in several municipalities confirm it in the Association.
Enrollment of children in state and private kindergartens began on May 24 and continues until June 15.
The price of children's stay in state institutions was 40 euros until now.
"The increase will come from the beginning of September this year after the signing of new contracts with parents and the end of this year's enrollment of children in public preschool institutions. In some areas, even until now, the price of a child's accommodation and nutrition was not maximum, but each administrative board of the institution looks at the conditions and the situation of the parents", the department he manages answered "Vijesti" Miomir Vojinović.
In the answers, it is emphasized that the Law on Preschool Education stipulates that the cost of living and feeding a child of a single parent should be 50 percent of the established price.
According to the Ministry, there are 40 licensed private institutions in Montenegro. Prices in private kindergartens have been high for years - from 150 euros and up
"Children without parental care, children whose parents are beneficiaries of the family's material security and children from the most vulnerable groups of the population should not pay the cost of meals in public pre-school institutions", the Ministry states.
They also claim that the costs of a child's stay and nutrition in public preschool institutions were not corrected in the previous period for several reasons:
"...And one of the basic ones was that it does not affect the coverage of children in kindergartens. The goal is for as many children as possible to attend preschool education. Providing child benefit for all children has greatly helped families to have additional income that they can direct for these purposes".
According to the data of the Ministry, enrollment is currently "flowing at a regular pace, and applications arrive daily".
They admit, however, that institutions in several municipalities will have the problem of overbooking, but emphasize that they are working on solutions.
"The facilities in Podgorica, Bar, Ulcinj, Budva and Tivat have the most problems with overbooking. We will remind you that the Ministry is working intensively on expanding capacity by renting space, building kindergartens and adapting existing spaces", said the Ministry.
Executive director of Ucompanionship Parents Kristina Mihailović assesses that "little changes" when it comes to problems with spatial capacities in preschool institutions.
"The problem is almost the same or even more complex in certain municipalities - the number of municipalities facing overbooking has increased. New, alternative solutions, such as adaptation of space with the help of local self-government, are insufficiently applied, and what was done before, is now reduced to a minimum", stresses Kristina Mihailović.
On the other hand, she points out, the construction of new buildings is very slow.
"...Even when loans are obtained, such as the loan from the Development Bank of the Council of Europe, which was obtained and signed after the petition of the Association of Parents in 2012. From then until today, despite the fact that 10 million euros have been provided, five out of seven kindergartens have been built , so the municipalities of Ulcinj and Bar do not yet have a new kindergarten from that loan," she warns. According to her, new loans have been announced.
"Every year, at least once, we hear a serious announcement that new kindergartens and schools will be built in certain neighborhoods in Podgorica, but little changes. I'm not even sure that there are defined solutions for those announcements. The situation is similar with other municipalities. These procedures must be accelerated, because the number of children in state preschool institutions is growing, which is the goal, according to the strategies for the development of preschool education and upbringing.
Therefore, the state must harmonize its intentions, plans and goals with the situation on the ground, and the situation is such that in the first months of each school year, we have more than 80 children in groups, in rooms of about thirty square meters," she said.
Institutions, she states, no longer have even a millimeter of free space.
"Everything they could partition - they did, a lot of them are waiting for some kind of extension, but even there the procedure is long and slow, and I remind you that according to the laws, the maximum number of children per group is 25. We have not respected those norms and standards for a long time, and that must be changed urgently. Considering the situation, I think it is not realistic to expect that something will change in the near future, if we continue at this pace", concluded Mihailović.
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