Mothers in Volgograd demanding free enrollment in kindergartens for their children stopped their hunger strike

On April, 17, eighteen mothers in Volgograd who had participated in a three-day hunger strike demanding free enrollment of their children in kindergartens have stopped their action of protest. The authorities of the region formed a working group for solving the problem. 

The mothers' hunger strike in Volgograd in protection of their children's right of free enrollment in kindergartens passed off from April, 15, till April, 17. Thirteen women were carrying out the hunger strike in one of the regional offices of CPRF party and five more mothers were holding their action of protest at home.

Olga Cheburakova, one of the organizers of the action, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the problem of kindergartens became critical in Volgograd during the past five years. According to her, about 29700 little residents of Volgograd are waiting in turn for enrollment in kindergartens at the moment. About 5,5 thousand more children are attending groups of short-term stay. 

These groups are not solving the problem, too, for the mothers state that they cannot get proper employment under such conditions. 

"Not a single kindergarten has been built during the past five years, - Tatyana Stepura, a participant of the hunger strike, says. - Financing the kindergartens is very poor. The parents are bearing all the expenses. The tutors' salaries are miserable. The number of the pupils of the groups is increasing up to 30-40 children in each". 

"The mothers wait for the queue for about three years. During this period they lose their jobs. In three more years nobody will employ them at all. Which struggle against unemployment are our authorities talking about if they cannot see its background just here, in the deficit of kindergartens?" - Natalya Sizukhina, another participant of the action, asks. 

The mother activists drew the authorities' attention to point 2, clause 43 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation "which guarantees publically available and free preschool education in state and municipal educational institutions". "Do you know what this official said when we referred to this clause of the Constitution? She said there was no such clause in our Constitution", Irina Kharkova, participant of the action, told us.

The participants of the hunger strike declared four major demands to the authorities: 

1. Provide all the children of Volgograd with free enrollment in kindergartens till April, 1, 2013, work out and accept a long-term target program of enlarging the network of preschool educational institutions (PEI) in Volgograd and return the buildings of the kindergartens under the conditions of co-financing from the budgets of all the levels till June 1, 2011.

2. Beginning from June, 1, 2011, pay off a monthly compensation to each child of Volgograd aged under 1,5 not attending a municipal or state kindergarten to a sum of no less than 80% of average cost of enrollment in a commercial kindergarten in the settlement, independently of the family's income. 

3. Stop the faulty practice of "compacting" the groups in the kindergartens for this will only result in increasing sickness and injury rate among children in the kindergartens, deterioration of the quality of educational and development process and worsening the children's state of health. Cancel the latest amendments to Sanitary regulations and standards of December 20, 2010 connected with this. 

4. Ensure sufficient financing the kindergartens in order to the skilled employees not to leave their work because of extremely poor salary and not to force the parents finance the items which must be financed by the state. 

According to the mothers, a meeting with the Governor, his subordinates and deputies of regional Duma was held on April, 16, in the office of regional Administration. Anatoly Brovko, Governor of Volgograd district, promised to assign 250 million rubles for reconstruction of seven buildings where kindergartens had been formerly located. According to him, this will provide 500 children with enrollment in kindergartens. Six more kindergartens will be reconstructed until the end of 2011. All in all, the Governor is planning to enroll about three thousand children of Volgograd in kindergartens until December, this year. 

"A working group consisting of officials of Mayor's office and deputies of municipal and regional Duma with us as observers has been formed, - Maria Luppova, participant of the hunger strike, said. - This working group must offer a program of steps for solution of our problem until June, 1".

Mayor's office of Volgograd has confirmed the fact of forming the working group for the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.