Tatarstan found among Russian regions who have resolved kindergarten waiting list problem

Prime Minister of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, said during a video conference on pre-school education on Wednesday that the efforts of the authorities of 8 Russian constituents had helped resolve the issue of long waiting lists to kindergartens.
Prime Minister of Tatarstan, Ildar Khalikov, was an attendee at the meeting.
Dmitry Medvedev said the problem with kindergarten waiting lists remained bad and that as few as 8 regions had managed to solve it, Tatarstan among them. Prime Minister lauded the regions’ authorities' efforts, recommending to the others to apply their practices.
As of 1 September, he went on to say, 5 million children went to pre-school institutions in Russia, while 447 thousand were on the waiting list.
“The situation is the worst in small towns and in villages,” D. Medvedev specified.
“We have a goal to work to, eliminating the waiting list by 2016,” Russia’s premier enhanced. It was important for both the parents, who could, after placing their child in a kindergarten, earn more, and demography in general, since more children could be born, he explained.
Russian government in 2012 gave budget loans worth 8 billion roubles and subsidies of 1 billion to the regions, for them to reduce the kindergarten waiting lists, he said.
“The money should be spent with maximal efficiency but the money is obviously not enough,” D. Medvedev said, the President of Tatarstan’s press service reports.