Building a daycare center is a piece of cake for us

26.09.2013 — Analysis

In the South Urals "houses" for preschoolers are built in record-breaking time.

The Chelyabinsk Region was among the first in Russia to start using modular building technologies. Buildings, like Lego construction sets, are assembled from prefabricated blocks; each of them is either a playroom, bedroom or dining room.

Such daycare facilities can open their doors to kids 6-9 months after the commencement of construction. When required, the building can be quickly "built up" and, as a result, a larger number of children can be accommodated.

The first modular daycare center will be opened in Krasnoye Pole settlement (the Sosnovsky District). The building having the floor area of 600 square meters can accommodate 60 children. It will be built from energy-efficient blocks that can withstand even Arctic frosts. By the way, such buildings are very popular in Canada, the country with the climate similar to that of the South Urals. There modules are used not only in construction of stores and buildings for public use, but also for residential buildings.

The South Ural authorities pin high hopes on the innovative technologies; the resources earmarked for optimization of accommodation capacity are limited and construction of new facilities is the task that cannot be neglected. Mikhail Yurevich, the governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, says that 19 new daycare centers will be built. 1.2 billion rubles has been allocated from the regional consolidated budget for this purpose.

In total, more than 23 daycare facilities will be built or renovated, and 8 thousand children will be accommodated by the end of the year. The total costs will amount to 2.5 billion rubles. Part of the funds will be received by the region from the federal budget under the program of modernization of municipal systems of preschool education.

This scope of construction will help to eliminate waiting lists to preschool facilities in the South Urals before 2016 – the deadline set by RF President Vladimir Putin.

"We have the task – to solve the problem of the accommodation capacity shortage in daycare centers by 2016. We have the possibility to solve this problem in the region and, first of all, in Chelyabinsk ahead of time. 37% of the region has no longer waiting lists to daycare centers and can even accommodate more children. Many municipalities still have the resource for rehabilitation of relevant buildings. We also use the possibilities and capacities of private and ungraded daycare centers as well as additional groups accommodated at schools," the head of the region stated.

At present, the South Urals gained the lead among the RF constituent entities in the provision of preschool education. The region has more than 1.5 thousand daycare facilities accommodating about 200 thousand children.

The region has provided accommodation for 18 thousand preschool children over three years of the implementation of the regional target program aimed at preschool education. On the other hand, the number of kids has increased by 19 thousand over the same period. This year, their number is expected to increase almost by 14 thousand.

To keep up with the soaring birth rate and to eliminate completely the shortage of daycare spaces new daycare centers must be opened before little South Ural residents start learning to walk. 

In the opinion of Governor Mikhail Yurevich, the load experienced by daycare centers is especially high in new neighborhoods of large cities, which are mostly occupied by young families. Therefore, the priority attention should be given to such districts.

The modular daycare center for 240 children will be built in one of such new residential developments – Komarovo in Miass. The construction of daycare facilities is scheduled for completion in Plast; the renovated facilities will be soon commissioned in Troitsk; two daycare centers are scheduled for construction in Yemanzhelinsk.

New daycare facilities not only solve the problem of shortage of spaces, but also are equipped for adequate education. The enacted law turns daycare centers into an independent primary stage of education.

"In fact, our preschool education system has always been focused not so much on supervision and care as on development of children. That is why, we are ready to switch over to educational programs that are being prepared at the moment. Today, children at daycare centers are turning into learners for a good reason. The efforts put efficiently to preschoolers will give a positive effect regarding their development," Elena Kouzova, the deputy minister of education and science of the Chelyabinsk Region, told RusBusinessNews.

The unified standards of preschool education are being developed at the moment. The Chelyabinsk Region has been selected as a pilot ground for application of new standards, as 97% of the South Ural three-year-old children start their education in the daycare center.

"The Chelyabinsk region takes the lead not only in the preschool education provision scope. We won the federal contest for models of development of preschool education and in 2011 we launched traineeship programs. At present, we are training specialists not only from our region, but also from other regions: Stavropol, Middle Urals, and Siberia; the flow of trainees is uninterruptible. They are trained at 26 operating daycare centers, which demonstrate present-day parameters of the educational process," Elena Kouzova, the deputy minister of education and science of the Chelyabinsk Region, pointed out the achievements.

One of the traineeship programs is implemented at Chelyabinsk daycare center No. 213. The innovative daycare center is more than 50 years old, though it is almost unbelievable that the preschool facility is as old – it meets all the present-day requirements. In addition to the gym, musical room and pets’ corner, there is a trendy sensory room with desks for sandplay therapy and a bubble panel.

The preschool center has been working under the comprehensive program for children development since the early 1990s. The teachers working at the daycare center do not doubt that pre-school training implies not only the tasks of teaching a child how to read and write, but also how to become adapted to the new environment and make independent decisions without endless interference of adults.

"Our present-day task is to integrate the educational standards applicable to daycare centers and school requirements to skills and knowledge of a first-grade student. Considering that our graduates study in the most prestigious educational institutions of Chelyabinsk, we can make a conclusion that the integration in the form of mutual understanding has been achieved," Tatiana Batalova, a senior teacher of daycare center No. 213, said.

The continuity of the preschool and school programs will be achieved through the unified standards of education, which are expected to be completed by 2014.

Irina Kalinina