 There
is an extraordinarily low percentage of Kosovar
children participating in early childhood
education, compared to countries in the region.
Poverty (there is a monthly fee to be paid in
preschools), general discouraging conditions (poor
conditions of preschools, law salaries of the staff),
combined with the traditional patriarchal
Kosovar mentality, have the consequence of the
usual tendency to let children stay at home with
their unemployed mothers or with other members
of the wider family such as grandparents. Nonetheless,
this overstressed role of the rather big family
organizational structure, which results into a
lot of emotional support to the children, quite
scarce in the modern technological world, has not
been used enough to improve the neglected early
childhood education. Definitely, Step by Step in
Kosovo took advantage of this traditional quality
of community life, to enter successfully in preschools
which used to offer a routine of discipline and
strict obedience, in gray and dull classrooms,
which did not succeed to attract the lively children
of big families. Definitely the Step by Step in
Kosovo made it obvious that the seeds of the reform
of education, aiming that kind of education which
enables the growth of free personalities, have
to be thrown in the very beginning, in the very
fist phase of education.
Step by Step program, by undertaking the task
of reform of early childhood sector, sets the foundation
stone for raising the awareness about the kind
of youth we need to build up a prosperous, democratic
and tolerant society of the future. Consequently,
in Kosovo this program got the reputation of performing
the crucial role of positioning the objectives
of Kosovar educational system. The program aims
to establish the criteria of bringing up the free
individuals of the future, shaped by system of
education which will directly contribute to the
development of a strong civil society and to the
efficient growth and improvement of the positive
tendencies within Kosovar society. What is more
important, this program takes advantage of the
cultural tradition of our environment. This includes
building on the inclination towards bringing up
children within a wider community by incorporating
parents into the structure of functioning of the
preschool institutions with their active participation
in the implementation of the child- centered classrooms.
SbS encompasses 149 kindergarten classes, or 70
per cent of all these institutions of Kosovo. There
is a total of 27 kindergartens with 108 classrooms,
and 84 classrooms within 49 elementary schools.
As part of the constant growth of the implementation
of Step by Step in Kosovo and as a result of the
continuity of our work, during the year 2001 there
were also 12 elementary school involved in our
program, with 25 classes where Step by Step is
already applied. This makes a total of 9000 Kosovar
children and 437 teachers participating in the
Step by Step.
The Step by Step program has already succeeded
to organize basic and advanced trainings for preschool
and school teachers in the region, covering 437
teachers, culminating into the establishment of
three training centers in Kosovo. It has provided
existing preschool classrooms with education materials
and furniture as well as has established the Parents'
Room, which encourages the inclusion of the family
as an important factor within the Step by Step
methodology and perspective. Both parents and teachers
are eager to embrace child-centered and interactive
methods that promote tolerance, critical thinking
and free choice, therefore SBS provides the roots
of the reformed educational system which after
the decade of isolation has finally access to current
information and research.
SBS has included six minority preschool classrooms
(Roma, Bosnian, Turkish), ensuring the multiethnic
element starting from the early stage of education.
SbS has helped the University of Prishtina Pedagogy
Department to update their information about new
teaching children-centered methodology, by enabling
their attendance in the seminar in Tirana on this
topic. It has also initiated the publication of
illustrated books for preschool children.
Partner organizations:
UNICEF
Save the Children
IRC
CRC
Feed the children
ABS |
