April 18, 2012
Chechnya
In March 2012 Tomáš Tetiva, project manager of Caritas CR, went to Chechnya for a monitoring trip. Among other things, he visited the center of pre-school education in Assinovskaja village which was built by Caritas CR, and is operated by a partner organization called Initiative and co-financed by Caritas Switzerland. Tom has shared with us his experiences of the day that he spent among children and their teachers.
On the way, I went with my colleagues in the morning. It is about an hour drive from Grozny to Assinovskaja. During the journey, I looked out the window and was watching the surrounding villages where you see almost no traces of the war. The country after the completion of the second Russo-Chechen war managed to reconstruct incredibly fast thanks to generous subsidies from the Russian federal budget. Unemployment is still very high, according to official data, at least 35 %. Living standards are still holding at low levels especially in remote regions, where in fact there is no work. The major problems include the health of the population, especially small children, who were crushingly influenced by the war events.
Around ten, we arrive to the Assinovskaja village, where massive police and military control of passing cars takes place. This is a special operation (specoperacija) against Islamist insurgents (bojevici), which from time to time commit terrorist attacks against the current government. The police let our car pass and after a while we stop at our school.
We're coming just in time. Children aged four to six years are collected in classes and begin the day with the traditional common greeting ritual. They sit together in a circle with their experienced teachers, holding their hands and passing a greeting, which in turn bypasses the whole circle. For a light start to the day, teachers ask what date is today and what day of the week. They then practice the basics of mathematics by counting how many of them are girls and how many are boys.
After the initial meeting, the first hour morning block starts. An important part of the methodology of the children’s education in the centre is to develop their creativity, so the art class in the classroom is very important. Teachers select their own theme for every class hour. For one group, the theme that has been selected is "Spring". Children get plasticine and begin creating their ideas about spring. After a while, the ideas are appearing under their hands, pieces of plants and flowers.
Meanwhile, the second group is drawing pictures. Children in this group were required to draw a globe. But they took the theme as they want to and they are drawing pictures of everything possible. Anyway, the children are in their element and it is clear that drawing is fun for them. They willingly isten to advice from the teachers.
The art class runs for about an hour. Once all children have finished their creations and drawings, they move to the ground and sit around one teacher, it is a time for a story read aloud. It is very nice for me to see how the children chat with teachers. Today, one teacher is reading fairy tales about a fox and hare. Children begin to listen intently.
Reading takes about fifteen minutes, followed by lunch time and then another half-hour walk and play outside. In one hour the parents come and take their children home. Another group of children, the afternoon group, is coming. A similar program awaits them. It ends at six o’clock in the evening.
I briefly meet with our teachers, whom I thank for their dedication and hard work. I appreciate their good work, because it is clear that they are doing it with full dedication and from the heart, and that they have a very nice relationship with children. These words obviously pleased the teachers and they send thanks and gratitude to Caritas CR and people in the Czech Republic for their support.
Currently the project of pre-school centers is in a difficult situation, because it is preparing to transferof all four nurseries (in the municipalities Gordali Jurt, Oyschara near the border with Dagestan and communities Davidienko Assinovskaja and near the border with Ingushetia) to the care of local authorities, which raises many questions. However, I believe that it will be possible to maintain the level of teaching and functioning of the centers at the same level as before.
