Preschool institution “Suncokreti” organized a workshop with fathers on the occasion of Women’s Day within the Inclusive Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Project “My kindergarten – kindergarten for all children”. The workshop was held in the Red Cross area so that all anti-epidemic measures could be complied with.

One of the very important components of the Project is the cooperation with parents. The Municipality of Vladimirci, as the holder of the Project, together with its partners Preschool, Red Cross, Center for Social Work and Health Center, also organizes daily individual consultations with parents, providing them with all sort of information and assistance.

The first horizontal online exchange was held within the Project “Dad, Mom, play with us” implemented by PU Čukarica with partners. The online meeting was held on March 3, 2021 from 5 pm to 7 pm, and the topic of the gathering was “Family participation in creating short programs – experiences from PU Čukarica”.

The first horizontal exchange was attended by a total of 30 educators, nurses, nurses in preventive health care, professional associates, associates, assistant directors and directors from PU Čukarica, PU “Poletarac” Odžaci and PU Zrenjanin (10 participants from each institution).

A meeting with the representatives of the Preschool Institution Čukarica was held in the hall of the City Municipality of Čukarica, at which further cooperation on the Inclusive Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Project was agreed with the Municipality.

The meeting was opened by a member of the Municipal Council, Stana Lukić, reminding those present that a meeting was held last week with representatives of non-governmental organizations and associations dealing with Roma issues in Čukarica. Stana Lukić used the opportunity to introduce them to the project implemented by the Čukarica Police Department, with the support of the City Municipality of Čukarica, with the idea of joining as many children of the Roma population as possible in educational workshops to be held at the “Carić” Kindergarten at Čukarička padina.

The director of the Čukarica Police Department, Biljana Gajić, expressed gratitude for the successful cooperation that has lasted many years and for the networking with other institutions that deal with children and families in Čukarica.

Social worker of PU Čukarica Milica Marković and a clerk for national minorities of Čukarica Metija Kadrijević pointed out that during a tour of the Roma settlement at the edge of Čukarička padina they mapped 25 children who are not in the system of preschool education, in order to join short quality programs.

The proposal of the project coordinator, Aleksandra Petrović, was to first prepare and distribute educational packages to children as an invitation to join the Inclusive Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Project.

The plan is for all children involved in the Project to receive educational packages. So far, 48 educational packages for children have been distributed, and in the next period, 49 more educational packages will be.

It was agreed that on March 5, 2021, families will be invited to the Čukarička padina local community to have packages distributed to children, and that immediately before that, Metija Kadrijević and Milica Marković will have a meeting with a representative of the Roma community and organize a trip to the Roma settlement.

The Round Table discussion, planned to be organized by the end of March 2021 via Zoom platform, was also discussed at the meeting.

At the suggestion of the director of the Čukarica Police Department, Biljana Gajić, the municipality will send the invitation for the Round Table to all relevant institutions. It was agreed that 30 participants from the local community will participate, including representatives of the Ministry, the Health Center, the Center for Social Work, Roma organizations, non-governmental organizations and others.

Biljana Gajić informed the attendees that on March 3, a horizontal exchange will be realized with PU “Poletarac” from Odžaci and PU “Zrenjanin” from Zrenjanin and that she will send the invite to the member of the Council Stana Lukić by e-mail.

Ana Duduković also attended the meeting in front of the City Municipality of Čukarica, as a support to the team of the Preschool Institution Čukarica in the realization of the Inclusive Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Project.

As part of the Capacity Building Support Program for the implementation of the ECEC Program Basics – Godine uzleta implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, UNICEF and the Institute for Pedagogy and Andragogy, the pilot project of the Professional Practitioner Community Learning Model was completed. The pilot project was realized in the preschool institution “Radost” in Čačak in the period from September 2020 to February 2021. Due to the unstable epidemiological situation, it took place in a digital environment.

The team of the preschool institution “Radost” showed a high degree of motivation and professionalism during the trial. The results, insights of practitioners and creators of the Model gained during the trial, will contribute to its improvement. The Community of Professional Learning of Practitioners, as a component of the Support Program, will soon begin to be implemented in preschool institutions where mentoring support has been completed.

Velika Plana, as one of the receivers of the grant, started in the previous period with the implementation of the Project, aiming to additionally include children from vulnerable social groups into the system of preschool education.

“Roma children, children from foster families, children who are disabled or have developmental disabilities, such as a speech impediment and the like, are included,” says Sonja Pavlović, one of the project managers.

Partners such as the Red Cross, the Preschool Institution “Children’s Kingdom” and the Municipality of Velika Plana, which set aside 253,440 dinars for participation, are participating in the project.

“We managed to gather 46 children, aged three to five and a half, and to organize preschool classes for them. Thanks to the obtained funds, we hired one speech therapist and one educator to work with the children,” Pavlović explains.

The children are divided into two educational groups, one in Velika Plana, the other in Miloševac, a village where the headquarters of the centre for accommodation of abandoned children are located.

“Work with children is organized on our premises and lasts three hours. Since the classes take place in two separate locations and in the afternoon, we have included our educators to work with the children. It is a beautiful and humane project “, says Marija Starčević, the director of the kindergarten.

Sonja Pavlović points out that due to protective measures to prevent the spread of the Covid-19, classes are currently limited to 24 children.

“However, all children remain in the project. And as soon as the epidemiological situation allows, we will continue teaching them all again. All with the goal of helping children and their parents as much as possible, to help them fit into teams more easily when they go to school. To acquire good behavioural and learning habits. And tomorrow they will become useful members of our society. “

Source: Srbija Danas