There are currently 187,000 children aged one in Ukraine. According to Anastasiya Konovalova, Deputy Minister of Education and Science, kindergartens should and can accept children from this age. ‘Previously, there were no nurseries due to a lack of places in preschool education institutions, but now the situation has changed. In order to preserve the network, it is necessary to fight for these children so that they go to a kindergarten that provides quality service from the age of one and a half, and their mothers can return to work, she told LB.ua.
At the same time, she stressed that not all kindergartens are currently able to accept one-year-olds. In particular, due to the lack of a regulatory framework.
Initially, Anastasiya Konovalova explains, it is necessary to support educators, provide them with methods, tell institutions what to feed children, and what the working hours should be. Now the Ministry of Education and Science is preparing professional standards for nannies and will issue standards for assistant educators.
‘Kindergartens used to work with such children, and we are not reinventing the wheel now. Firstly, the economic situation is such that we have a huge shortage of people in the labour market. And secondly, we have institutions with closed rooms. So, of course, we need to help them expand their operations,’ she says.