7000 children in Marneuli municipality do not have access to pre-school education

Nurlan Huseynov

Sakin from Sabirkendi village, Marneuli municipality, have two underage children. Since there is no kindergarten in the village, Sakini’s kids spend all days at home. “There are several kindergartens in Marneuli. Some families from our village take their children there but not everybody can take children from the village to the municipality center. There is big difference between my and their kids. They know more rhymes and songs. They learn Georgian language from early childhood. Those children, who do not go to kindergartens, watch TVs all day long,” Sakin said.

Chairperson of the Marneuli municipality union of kindergartens Tofik Hajyev said there are not enough kindergartens in their municipality like in other regions of Georgia. “Kindergartens are only in 13 out of 72 villages in the municipality. About 2000 children of the municipality go to kindergartens though there are estimated 9 000 kids of the kindergarten age in the municipality. Consequently, 7 000 children do not get pre-school education.”

Gachiani is one of the biggest villages in Marneuli municipality. The village population state there is a kindergarten building in their village but it does not function because the building is demolished. Instead, one-year pre-school preparation program is functioning in the school though it can accept only 5 children per year. 

Asuda from Sarali village Marneuli district is a teacher. She has two children. As there is no kindergarten in their village, neither her kids get pre-school education. Asuda thinks her children fall behind those children who go to kindergartens. “I am a teacher and it is difficult for me to allocate enough time on the education of my kids after I get home in the evening. If there were a kindergarten in our village, it could be huge asset for me and every woman in general. The children will get education there and will be under supervision of teachers,” Asuda said.

Marneuli municipality first deputy governor Zaur Tabatadzze said few more kindergartens are being built in the municipality. “We have finished construction of the kindergarten for 150 kids in Sadakhlo village. We started construction another 150-kid kindergarten in Algeti village.”

Marneuli municipality deputy governor Kamandar Ismaylov said the main criteria for starting the construction of kindergartens in the village is number of its population. He said by 2020 every big village will have kindergarten. 

The article was prepared in the frame of the project implemented by Human Rights House Tbilisi with financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Georgia. HRHT bears sole responsibility for the content of the article. The article does not necessarily reflect the views of the donor.