I regret that the 5-year Program of the Pre-school Education Development has not been confirmed yet, said the Azerbaijan Minister of Education, Misir Mardanov, on January 25 at the collective meeting dedicated to the results of 2006, Trend reports.
The Minister said that the pre-school education in 2006 remains as a sphere sustaining many problems. However, according to the task of the President of Azerbaijan, the construction of 11 new children homes and capital repair of 14 kindergartens have commenced for the first time over the past 20 years.
According to the task of the President, we have prepared 5-year Program of Pre-school Education Development. I regretfully state that this Program have been discussed for more than 1 year at various levels and has not been approved yet. I hope that the Program will be approved in 2007, said the Minister.
In addition, Mardanov said that 240 kindergartens have been opened for privatization and it forms 40% of the kindergartens. The number of such kindergartens equals 113 only in Baku. The Minister voiced his confidence that the healthy competition between the kindergartens opened for privatization will assist in developing this sphere.