Government of the Republic of Serbia
The conclusion from the “Key Dimensions of the Quality Development in Early Childhood Education – the Preschool Curriculum Framework” conference which took place on 22 May, was that the preschool education and education as a whole must be of high quality and accessible to children from all socio-economic backgrounds and in all geographic areas in the country, regardless of their level of development.
The Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Mladen Šarčević said that intensive activities related to the drafting of the document Fundamentals of the Preschool Education Programme were underway and were expected to be completed before April 2018.
“Serbia has a long tradition of preschool education; however the percentage of children participating in the preschool education is still much lower than the one in Europe. The most excluded children are the ones from poor families and rural areas, as well as children from the Roma community. These children are the ones who need preschool education the most”, said Michel Saint-Lot UNICEF Representative in the Republic of Serbia.
An increase of coverage of children aged 3 to 5.5 with preschool education and the improvement of the quality of the programme require systemic interventions on the national and local level, modernisation of curricula, improvement of the competencies of preschool staff and larger support for the improvement of the quality.
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has supported the education reform in Serbia for over a decade, and it has supported inclusive education with approximately EUR 12 million.
“Switzerland considers that promoting a society that integrates all its members from early stages of life is of vital importance. For this to happen, a high-quality preschool system and inclusion are crucial”, said Ursula Läubli, Head of the SDC in Serbia.
The conference was organised by UNICEF in Serbia, the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technological Development, Institute for the Improvement of Education, Institute for the Evaluation of the Quality of Education and CIP-Centre for Interactive Pedagogy.
Source: www.unicef.rs
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