Dwellers of Minsk residential district want Belarusian-speaking kindergartens for their children

People, who want their children to attend Belarusian-speaking kindergartens, have formed parents’ committee in Sukharava, a residential district of Minsk.

As BelaPAN news agency learned from Alena Anisim, the head of the Minsk city organization “Francysk Skaryna Belarusian Language Association”, the committee was formed to find and bring together the residents of Sukharava district who want to give their children education in Belarusian. “The parents’ committee will do its best to open new Belarusian-speaking groups in kindergartens in our district,” Anisim said.

The Parents’ committee should not allow transferring children from Russian-speaking groups to Belarusian-speaking groups and control the professional level of teachers in Belarusian-speaking groups, so that it could meet the tasks. “It should be taken into account that parents and officials must join their efforts in accordance with the programme of the Ministry of Education, which has been in force for some years, and the regulation of the Council of Ministers of January 27, 2010, on expanding Belarusian-speaking education,” the representative of the Belarusian Language Association noted.

According to her, the situation with Belarusian-speaking kindergartens in Sukahrava needs public support. Kindergarten #570 enlarges the Belarusian-speaking group by additional inclusion of 5- and 6-year-old children. A BElalrusian-speaking group opened in kindergarten #561. “Initially, the group was created for 12 children, whose parents applied for education of their sons and daughters in the Belarusian language. Later, nine children were added to this group. They were found by the kindergarten chief and teachers, who were persuading parents to give their kids to that group,” the committee’s head said.

As noted by Anisim, there’s a danger that these nine children could later become an obstacle to continue education in Belarusian in kindergarten #561. “The parents’ committee needs to speak to the parents of these nine kids,” Anisim stressed.