Women of Volgograd hold picket demanding from authorities to address the problem of kindergartens

Today, Volgograd hosted a picket on availability and quality of preschool education. The protesters demanded to increase funding for the network of kindergartens; and in the existing ones – to increase funds per capita and educators' salaries. Natalia Latyshevskaya, a Deputy of the Volgograd Regional Duma, told the audience that the authorities were preparing a bill on compensations to those parents who cannot place their children in kindergarten.

Mothers stood in front of the Regional Duma with slogans: "You deprived children of kindergartens and gave no compensation", "Hungry nurse with penny salary won't bring up Olga and Andrei", "Instead of bureaucrats' salaries, build a kindergarten for kids!" and "I want state officials live for child's allowance and have everything they wish!" Some of the women came to the action with their children who were playing with balloons reading "I want to kindergarten!"

"Our goal is to force the authorities to address the issue of kindergartens," Olga Cheburakova, the leader of the public movement "Volgograd parents for children's rights, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

For Natalia Sizukhina, a mother of two children, this picket is the third since last spring of last year. In March, her daughter Masha will be three.

"Before the divorce, we decided with my husband to place the child into a private kindergarten. We did it, but then divorced. The tariff there is 7500 roubles per month. We pay it by shares with my ex-husband, but every time he says that he pays for the last time," Natalia shared her situation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Natalia tried to fight for a place for her child in a state-owned kindergarten through the court. She filed a lawsuit to the Tsentralny District Court of Volgograd against the city administration with a demand to provide her child with an access to free preschool education in the Soviet District of Volgograd in a full-time group. The court had granted her a place, but in a short-time group, that is, for three hours a day.

"The official waiting list to kindergartens of Volgograd makes about 18,000 children aged from 2 to 7. Annually, about 6000 places are liberated in kindergartens of Volgograd. Obviously, this is quite insufficient to ensure places for all newcomers. Besides, because of low salaries, kindergartens feel shortage of skilled educators. This endangers the pre-school education of our children," says the resolution of the picket.

The picketers invited deputies and heads of administrations of the Volgograd Region and Volgograd and Sergey Bozhenov and Sergey Sokolov to the event. Only deputies have responded.

"I came out to you on behalf of the governor. Just yesterday, he gave me an instruction to find 1.8 billion roubles for enforcing the law on compensation payments to parents of children aged from 1.5 to 4. The governor wants to adopt the law. But it is not known yet, whether it will be done at once or by stages – first for large families and single mothers," Natalia Latyshevskaya, a Deputy of the Volgograd Regional Duma and the Chair of the Committee on Public Health, Physical Culture and Youth Policy, told the protesters.