ALL CHILDREN ENCOMPASSED BY OBLIGATORY PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION PROGRAM IN TUZLA CANTON

On the occasion of the achievement of a very significant breakthrough in setting up the conditions for the fulfilment of the Framework Law on Preschool Education and Upbringing in BiH, which foresees that every child is to attend obligatory pre-school education in the year prior to entering school, a public presentation event was held in Tuzla in the Primary School „Soline“.

The Project “Education fit to children in Tuzla Canton – B-H on the path to the EU” implemented by Save the Children in partnership with the Ministry of Education, culture and Sports of Tuzla Canton and the Pedagogical Institute of Tuzla Canton, enabled that in all 12 municipalities of Tuzla Canton and in the City of Tuzla, infrastructure is in place for the support to early childhood care and development and the implementation of the obligatory pre-school education. By encompassing nearly 100% of children in year 2015, an extremely important breakthrough has been achieved, taken into account the fact that before the start of this project, only 20% of children were involved in some form of pre-school education in the year prior to entering school.

This success is a result of cooperation of all partners in the project, as well as the generous support of the municipalities of Tuzla Canton, who have showed care and understanding for the needs of the youngest population, as well as the importance of investment in early childhood care and development. Thanks to this project, only in year 2015, 69 teachers and caregivers were strengthened and empowered to implement the program of obligatory pre-school education.

„As a result of these activities there were important breakthroughs in the understanding of the importance of pre-school education for the early childhood care and development, but also increase in the readiness of everybody to participate actively in this process. This influenced the significant increase of awareness among citizens on the importance of pre-school education for the healthy development of children at an early age, the role of pre-school institutions and their importance in the society has been strengthened, and a quality cooperation between the local community, the schools and the pre-school institutions has been established,” highlights Nikola Cica, director of the Pedagogical Institute of Tuzla Canton. „What is especially important to mention is the role of local authorities in all municipalities of Tuzla Canton. Namely, all the municipalities have allocated funds for the implementation of these activities in their local budgets, amounting to 250.000,00 BAM (125.000€),” emphasizes Cica.

For the implementation of the program of obligatory pre-school education, the investment in infrastructure was very important. It enabled the establishment of classrooms for the support to the improvement of early childhood care and development in all local communities in Tuzla Canton. These classrooms have been established and equipped exclusively for this purpose. Save the Children has provided furniture, stationary, didactics and books to equip 22 classrooms in 2015, which were established in branch schools and schools in semi-urban and rural areas in Tuzla Canton. This adds up to the previous activities in the project implementation period from 2013 to 2015, leading to the equipping of a total of 83 classrooms/units in branch schools and semi-urban locations, as well as four centers for early childhood care and development, established in the communities of Teocak, Sapna, Celic and Kalesija, where no pre-school infrastructure was available in the past.

„The value of investment which enabled the encompassing of all children with pre-school education amounts to around 550.000BAM (225.000€) invested in the period from 2013-2015,” said Andrea Zeravcic, director of Save the Children in North West Balkans. „The funds were secured by Save the Children and they have been invested in the purchase of the necessary equipment for 83 classrooms and four centers for early childhood care and development, as well as in the capacity building of 220 teachers and caregivers and other activities to support our partners with the aim of improvement of the access and quality of pre-school education in Tuzla Canton.  By this, we have created the pre-conditions for the implementation of obligatory pre-school education for all children in accordance to the stipulations of the Framework.