“We feel at home here and we love our kindergarten,” says Andrei, a six-year-old, who attends the newly renovated kindergarten in Anenii-Noi, financed under the Moldova Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (EFA/FTI) project. New furniture, equipment, toys, didactic materials, and a play and sports field for children have changed the way the kindergarten now looks and functions.
Over 100 children from Anenii-Noi community, located 10 km away from Chisinau, benefited from improved conditions at this pre-school institution for children aged 3-7. Parents, who earlier refused to bring their children to the kindergarten because of its poor conditions, are now more than happy to leave them here. In the raion’s Excellence Center, educators from other pre-school institutions can learn and share best practices on early childhood development. Benefits for the children and local communities are enormous: newly renovated kindergartens and community centers along with new furniture, toys, and trained educators, follow a new pre-school curriculum in accordance with international standards. The approach to child education is also new in Moldova, with the role of the first educator attributed to the parents who are supported by kindergarten educators.