Parents of children who attend the "Sunce" kindergarten in Virpazar are worried about the potential closure of the kindergarten due to the small number of children. On that occasion, they addressed the competent institutions. The management of the kindergarten told "Vijesta" that there is no reason to worry, and that the doors of the kindergarten remain open.
In the letter that the parents from Virpazar sent to the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Angels Jaksic Stojanovic, writes that they have problems because they are not provided with a full-day stay, as was the case last year, and as it is written in the contract they signed with the kindergarten "Vukosava Ivanović Mašanović" from Bar, whose kindergarten "Sunce" is a regional department.
"When enrolling our children in this kindergarten at that time, the director of the kindergarten gave us very kind verbal guarantees that the kindergarten would be open at least until 14:30 p.m. and that the program would be a full-day stay there, as was the case the previous year, as soon as school transportation started to drop off the children. However, as soon as the children started to attend the kindergarten and when the first week passed, in which we were patient to take the children from the kindergarten around 12 o'clock because there is one teacher, not two, as it would normally be mandatory," said the parents.
They emphasized that the kindergarten legally fell under the all-day children's stay program, and there was no other teacher, so they rebelled because of this way of working, and a parents' meeting was called after one month of such work, and they paid the full price for their children's stay in the kindergarten.
The problem of the second teacher
Some of them would not enroll their children in kindergarten under these conditions, they pointed out. In the letter, they also conveyed their impressions from that parents' meeting and wrote that the director told them that she could not provide another teacher at the moment, and that other kindergartens with more children had a higher priority for assigning teachers because nine of them were on sick leave.
"She offered us verbally, again, the option that the kindergarten should remain operating in the same way or that they default it to half-day care and that we pay 25 euros instead of 50 euros for the same time for which we paid 50 in the first month. The parents then agreed to the option that Kindergarten starts working later, around 8, and works at least until 14 pm so that the full price remains. The director, once again, very sweetly and kindly, promised that she would do everything to make it happen when she consults with the Ministry of Education", parents from Virpazar say.
However, they claim, her reply quickly arrived in an email stating that from then on the kindergarten will be on a half-day program due to the insufficient number of enrolled children. The parents were very disappointed but at least partially satisfied that they would not have to pay double the price for the same services as before.
"As the children fell ill during the winter months, which is quite normal, the living conditions in other kindergartens as well, the director started to tell us indirectly that the kindergarten would be closed due to the small number of children coming to the kindergarten, often it was no more than three in that period", they recounted and added that they were revolted because of this and forced a parent-teacher meeting.
The director, as they claim, then quoted the rulebook explaining that the kindergarten had to be closed, and the parents did not agree to that.
They especially point out that they really need the kindergarten in Virpazar, because it is the only educational and social content for children of preschool age in that rural area, which replaces the speech therapist, psychologist, pedagogue they need on a daily basis...
They know, as they wrote to the minister, that in other municipalities there are kindergartens with a smaller number of children. The parents are asking for the all-day stay of children to be restored in this kindergarten, as well as for the establishment of a crèche.
They sent a similar letter to the president of Bar municipality, Dušan Raičević, in which they ask him to influence the resolution of their problems in cooperation with the Ministry of Education. They told "Vijesti" that they contacted the authorities in mid-July, but they still haven't received an answer.
They continue to work, but without a crèche
The administration of the kindergarten "Vukosava Ivanović Mašanović" told the newsroom that the primary all-day program was offered to parents at enrollment for the 2023/2024 school year. year for the unit "Sunce".
The enrollment committee received seven applications and formed a mixed, kindergarten educational group for the calendar age of three to six years, they said and added that by looking at the children's attendance list for September 2023, it was established that the average attendance was only five children.
"Due to the small number of enrolled and incoming children, from October 2023, educational work in the educational unit "Sunce" will be implemented on a half-day basis, and accordingly, parents of enrolled children will pay the prescribed amount for the half-day program, i.e. 25 euros per month. . This year, attendance was from three to six children," said the kindergarten.
For the next school year 2024/2025. eight children of kindergarten age were registered. The opening of a daycare educational group in this educational unit, which functions in the premises of Elementary School "Jovan Tomašević" in Virpazar, as they stated, has not been considered until now because there are no technical conditions and the necessary number of children of this age to form a group of children from one to three years old.
They claim that the management of the kindergarten did not send any information about any possibility of closing the "Sunce" kindergarten in any form of communication with parents, be it through the bulletin board, Viber group, Facebook and the institution's website, nor in the daily communication with the teacher.
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