| |
|
||||||||||
   |
|
|
|||||||||
UNESCO Conference in MoscowFirst-ever World UNESCO Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education in Moscow
First-ever World UNESCO Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) has gathered in Moscow The level of representation at the conference was outstandingly high — national delegations were headed by about 70 ministers of education from different countries. All in all, more than 1000 people took part in the forum’s work, about 800 of them were foreign delegates from 130 countries of the world, including representatives of international organizations of the United Nations System, various non-profit organizations working in the field of child care and experts in preschool education. UNESCO and the Moscow city administration initiated support for the original proposal to hold the conference. The Moscow city has been chosen a conference venue in accordance with the resolution, adopted at the 35th Session of UNESCO’s General Conference. As it is mentioned in the documents of this organization, this choice has been determined by the fact, that the Government of the Russian Federation and the Moscow city administration have always paid close attention to early childhood care and education, making investments in the preschool education programs. 
The objective of the conference, announced by UNESCO, was “protection of children’s rights and interests around the globe, development of early childhood care and education policy, aimed at creation of environment that is favorable for development and education of all children, including those from socially and economically disadvantaged families”. UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova who pointed out the effectiveness of early childhood education programs opened the first-ever World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education together with Andrei Fursenko, the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Danny Faure, the Vice-President of the Seychelles, Mehriban Aliyeva, the First Lady of Azerbaijan and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Eleonora Mitrofanova, Chairperson of UNESCO’s Executive Board, Koïchiro Matsuura, former UNESCO Director-General and other officials. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sent a word of salutation to the participants of the forum, and Andrey Fursenko, Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, read the text of the address: “The authoritative forum held under the guidance of UNESCO is designed to develop a unitary strategy in realization of main principles and approaches to the preschool education, the improvement in its quality, its availability, the upbringing of a healthy younger generation”. 
Svetlana Medvedeva, the spouse of the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, sent her greetings to the delegates and guests of the Conference. Mrs Medvedeva said, in particular, in her message: “Choosing Russia as a conference venue is a best estimation of Russia’s initiatives on preschool education development held under the UNESCO aegis. Our country has always been famous for a high quality of early childhood care and education system, especially for children with various health-related limitations. And today the most serious attention is paid to its modernization in Russia”. In course of the press-conference held on the opening day of the conference Andrey Fursenko, Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, mentioned that it is highly important that the conference on the education and upbringing of preschool children takes place in Russia, which underlines what a significant role Russia plays in forming the preschool educational strategy. “We have what to show and what to share, on the other hand, it is a great challenge for us. It will enable us to formulate the goals we may achieve in the near future, to get to know what projects in this field are now being implemented in the world and what approaches are the most effective at present, and how we can improve education in our country”, said Fursenko. 
Mrs Irina Bokova emphasized that one of the conference objectives is to convince all the countries of the significance of the issue. Education is a priority for every state, and though every country has its own educational system, the values are always the same — they are human rights, respect, intercultural dialogue, cultural diversity, tolerance. UNESCO develops special educational programs and appeals for including the problems of human rights and respect for each other into the educational programs of all the countries. The participants of the first global conference on early childhood care and education cheered enthusiastically the gala-concert “We are Children of Moscow” dedicated to the conference opening, where pupils of the children’s art centers, kindergartens, physical culture schools, boarding schools and clubs took part. It was an unusual performance for the children participating in the concert — they had a chance to demonstrate their artistry on the stage of the State Kremlin Palace! The celebration began already in the foyer where the guests awaited a concert program of the art groups of preschool institutions. The children bravely danced in the colorful national costumes, sang songs, recited poems. At that time the adults were writing on special paper-palms their good wishes and leaving them on the special “Island of wishes”, thoughtfully solving puzzles in the “Play street” and sitting at the chessboard in the “Sports street”. The young artists in velvet berets were painting pictures, specialists in the art workshops were teaching how to make toys, origami, post-cards. 
Children came out on the stage of the State Kremlin Palace — the future professionals. They demonstrated not only the high level of dancing, singing and sports skills but also gave the audience a great feeling of sincere joy. When the children from the art group “Angels of Hope” came on the stage, performing in the unique genre of “dancing with gestures”, — the group consists of children with hearing problems, — the audience welcomed them by waving their hands instead of applauding for the performers to see how they are glad to see them. The energy of the young artists, their clear young voices, the brightness, great skill inspired the participants of the conference. The other participants of the concert were: students of the college of music and drama No.61 named after Galina Vishnevskaya, dance theatre “Miniature” of the secondary general school 933, the lyrical circle dance of the dance ensemble “The Flowers of Russia” of the state educational institution, children’s art school “Accord”, the ensemble “Engagement”, children from kindergartens No. 133, 2328, as well as from other educational institutions of Moscow, the audience saw a sports afterpiece called “Sport — is the world!”. During the three days of the conference the delegates from different countries shared their regional experience, presenting to their colleagues the results of the national researches, which allowed to focus attention on the most effective programs in different parts of the world. During the work of the forum the participants visited the unique capital city kindergartens, got acquainted with Moscow’s experience in this sphere. Many preschool educational institutions of Moscow are resource centers of the modern pilot project of the city of Moscow and UNESCO under the name “Moscow education: from toddlers to High School”. At present 17 resource centers are working in Moscow implementing innovative lines of development of preschool education in the capital city. The Moscow conference summed up the results achieved during the last decade and also adopted the Moscow Framework of Action on early childhood care and education, which covers actions to be taken by 2015 and in longer term, it outlines the main tasks to be performed in order to achieve the goals set at the conference and associated with early childhood education, health protection and nutrition. The participants of the conference have taken home fine recollections and a firm intention to make everything possible in order to ensure that the children of the world get the best from the state.
Useful links:The World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education |
||
During the round tables and seminars the representatives of different countries discussed such questions as preschool education in the multicultural world, the role of the special education in the conditions of poverty and marginality, inclusive education, exchange of knowledge between generations and the problem of literacy in the family, the possibilities of the use of information and communication technologies in the preschool education, cooperation with the parents in the preschool education.
| | |
|
© 2010 Department of Foreign Economic |