Organized by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development and the city of Loznica, on October 1, 2022, the fourth Parenting Fair was held in the “Carolija” kindergarten, with the aim of providing support to families with children and spreading awareness of the importance of early inclusion and inclusion of all children in the system preschool upbringing and education.

The parenting fair was formally opened by Dr. Milan Pasic, Assistant Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development and Ljubinko Djokic, Assistant Mayor of Loznica.

Visitors to the Fair, about 300 parents with children, had the opportunity to get all the information in one place about the types of support provided by the local institutions of the city of Loznica, as well as to learn more about their rights and how to exercise them.

By participating in educational and interactive workshops, together with the children, parents had the opportunity to strengthen their parental competencies and to learn about the skills that support the happy and healthy growth and development of their little ones.

During the Fair, special attention was paid to families from sensitive social groups, through information on the possibilities for equal inclusion in the system of preschool education and upbringing.

You can see photos from the Parenting Fair here.

As part of the project “Inclusive preschool education and Care” implemented by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development in partnership with the Novak Djokovic Foundation, another study room in the territory of the Bac municipality, Bodjani village, was adapted and equipped with a loan from the World Bank.

The municipality of BaC is multinational – Serbs, Croats, Slovaks, Hungarians, Romanians, Roma and others live in it. For years, the municipality has been allocating significant funds for regressing the costs of education and upbringing, as well as for social and child protection. About 300 families in Bac are beneficiaries of social assistance.

PU “Kolibri” tries to include all children both from Bac and from the surrounding villages. The administration of PU strives to make integrated social care for children of preschool age equally accessible and adapted to each child, without discrimination and segregation on any basis, as well as to provide limited support to families with small children.

The kindergarten in the Bodjani neighborhood is located within the separate departments of the “Aleksa Santic” elementary school, and as part of the Inclusive preschool education project, the Novak Djokovic Foundation and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development adapted and completely equipped one study room.

Renovation works included the replacement of floors, carpentry, lighting, painting, procurement and installation of air conditioners.

The new, equipped space will be able to accommodate 25 children. The facility has one study room (mixed group) and is equipped in accordance with the needs of the group and in accordance with the new basics of education.

In addition to furniture that has been selected and adapted to a mixed-age group, the room is equipped with new toys, carpets, lazy bags, easels for painting, books and necessary consumables.

In the new group in the territory of the municipality of Bac, 25 new children aged 3 to 5.5 years were enrolled and the room is equipped in accordance with the needs of our youngest residents.

You can see other photos here.

As part of the project of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development “Inclusive preschool education and care”, as part of the system support for preschool institutions in Serbia, support for the professional development of employees in preschool institutions with the aim of improving the quality of preschool Education and Care is planned.

The guide for the improvement and development of professional training in a preschool institution through building a professional learning community – Joint learning to quality was created by the expert team led by the CIP – Center for Interactive Pedagogy and was implemented in cooperation with the Group for Preschool Education and Care of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the RS and the Institute for the Improvement of Education and Training.

The creation of the guide was preceded by the realization of the research “Practices of Preschool Institutions and the Needs of Practitioners in organizing professional development”, based on the observation of the practice of horizontal learning as a form of professional development in preschool institutions and giving recommendations for its improvement. All public preschool institutions (162) and school administrations (16) in the territory of the Republic of Serbia participated in the research.

The guide was printed in a circulation of 10,600 copies and distributed to preschool institutions. This circulation makes it possible for all public preschool institutions to receive it: all professional associates and all trainers/mentors for the Fundamentals program, as well as almost every educational group. A PDF version of the guide is also available to practitioners on the ECEC Project website and the Learning Passport platform.

A link to a PDF version of the guide was sent through school administrations and private preschools.

Also, the guides were delivered to all faculties, secondary and higher schools that educate teachers, and through school administrations to educators who implement the preparatory preschool program in the organization of elementary schools.

We believe that the guide, as part of other supports for practitioners in PU, will significantly contribute to the common understanding of the importance of the professional learning community and its construction.

PDF version of the Guide for professional training in PU.

As part of the Inclusive preschool education and training project implemented by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development in partnership with the Novak Djokovic Foundation, another 3 classrooms were equipped in the territory of the municipality of Vladimirci, a village of Debrc, with a loan from the World Bank.

For years, PU “Suncokreti” has been making great efforts to include all children and, in addition, it is trying to include children from neighboring municipalities in the system of preschool upbringing and education.

More than 320 children are currently attending PU, and for 3 years the preschool institution “Suncokreti” has been included in the project of Inclusive Preschool Education and Care, so that about 40 children from sensitive social groups attend kindergarten for free.

The need for children’s coverage is increasing, because there are many young parents who have no one to leave their children in care.

The kindergarten in the Debrc settlement works very successfully and includes children from the eastern part of the Vladimirci municipality, and children from neighboring villages (Usce, Skela) often stay there.

Children from the villages of Krnic, Jazovik, Suvo selo, Beljin, and Vlasanica gravitate towards the Debrc kindergarten, where there are 81 of them aged up to 7 years with a growing tendency.

The new, equipped space will be able to accommodate 65 children. The facility has 3 workrooms (older nursery, mixed and preschool group) and is equipped in accordance with the needs of each group and in accordance with the new basics of education.

In addition to the furniture that was selected and adapted to each age group, the rooms are equipped with new toys, carpets, lazy bags, easels for painting, books and necessary consumables.

65 new children between the ages of 1.5 and 7 were enrolled in new groups on the territory of the Vladimirci municipality, and the premises are equipped in accordance with the needs of our youngest residents.

You can see other photos here.

In Sid, the beginning of the construction of a new kindergarten was officially opened today in the presence of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development, Branko Ruzic, and the President of the Municipality of Sid, Zoran Semenovic.

About 131 million dinars will be invested in the new facility, which will provide an additional 140 places for preschool children and which will cover an area of ​​about 1100 m2, and the completion of the works is expected in 12 months.

The Ministry continues with its policy of increasing the coverage of children with preschool Education and Care, which supports parents, as well as the development and education of their children from an early age – said Minister Branko Ruzic and added that this is the 12th kindergarten that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development is building with the support of the World Bank within the program “Inclusive education and training”. This program will cover 23 buildings, and the total amount of investment is 47 million euros.

You can see other photos here.