[ad_1]
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Seimas, the Government and other state institutions, self-government, as well as educational institutions, non-governmental organizations.
After the meeting, Jolanta Karpavičienė, Senior Advisor to the President, pointed out that Lithuania’s well-being depends on education and that children are included in education relatively late in Lithuania, so they want to give all Lithuanian children an equal start .
According to her, it is necessary to ensure preschool education for children who experience exclusion, as well as to prepare the conditions for the inclusion of all children. Preschool education is going to be introduced for the most socially vulnerable children and this should be a matter not only for municipalities but also for the state.
“This action, which we begin today with the president, is a long process and we will see its fruits in eight or ten years. Our youth is rapidly aging, its acceleration is enormous, so it is unacceptable to maintain it for a long time without interfering with the life of the state. This idea is good, it is careful in preparation. The main points – infrastructure, teachers, textbooks, support specialists, I am glad that we have such strong support – the president, I hope the entire schedule of actions will be agreed soon, ”said the president. the advisers were supported by the Seimas member Eugenijus Jovaiša.
According to him, the financial resources are aligned and 90 million euros are currently needed for the six years from 2021.
“It just came to our knowledge then. It will be dedicated to infrastructure, teacher training, transportation. Preschool education would need 57 million. And the rest for preschool and primary education.”
He also added that these are perhaps modest estimates so far and may require more money.
The right to a quality education
According to Saulė Mačiukaitė-Žvinienė, president of the Lithuanian Education Council, this is a systematic step and all Lithuanian children should have the opportunity to receive a quality education. According to her, the Lithuanian Board of Education has previously offered compulsory pre-school education to children at social risk.
“It is worrying that the gap between children can be as long as two years and that children from socially excluded families are less likely to choose secondary or higher education. Today’s opportunity, if the child is ready to go to school, it is unequivocally the step to obtain a quality education in the future, we support the President in the changes initiated ”.
When asked if the focus should be on countries with successful experience in this area, the President responded that, in general, it would be difficult to find identical education systems if different countries were involved.
“Compulsory early childhood education in Belgium or France has positive results.”
According to her, several international studies show a clear correlation between the performance of children and the moment they start their education in early childhood education.
“I want to point out that we are not talking about the age of the child, but about changing the content. The preschool education system must approach general education. We are not talking about a change tomorrow, but we have to see how the content of preschool education should change. We talk about the content, the knowledge, the curriculum, but we do not emphasize the age of the child, the child must come prepared ”.
He also emphasized that compulsory preschool education should be compulsory for all children at social risk in order to address social inequalities.
“We just realized that we would change the welfare of the state if we ignore these children now. It is important to implement changes in early education gradually over several years. “
The proposed package of amendments to the Education Amendments Act would be considered in the fall session and early education should be mandatory for children at social risk.
Clarified who the money will go to
Paulius Baltokas, advisor to the president, clarified that if the education model initiated by the president is implemented, 90 million. for implementation within six years.
“To guarantee preschool education for children at social risk, there are up to 10 million per school year, preschool preparation is just over 11 million, pre-primary preparation is 7.5 million and around 7 million more are needed. training, development and, in other words, training of educators. Consequently, by setting these amounts over six years, we get around 90 million. within six years ”.
The President also seeks to introduce mandatory kindergarten attendance for children from families at social risk. According to the presidency, about a third of 4.5 thousand. the children living in these families have never attended kindergarten and the initiative would require around 9 million children. euros.
It is strictly prohibited to use the information published by DELFI on other websites, in the media or elsewhere, or to distribute our material in any form without consent, and if consent has been obtained, it is necessary to cite DELFI as the source.
[ad_2]
