Ninety nine percent of 3-7-year-olds in Tatarstan provided with kindergarten vacancies

As of the beginning of this school year, availability of kindergarten vacancies for children aged 3 to 7 was 99 percent, deputy education minister Ildar Mukhametov told a plenary meeting of the Tatarstan Education and Science Ministry.

In three years, the number of kindergarten pupils had increased by 24,000, totalling 211,757 as of the beginning of the year, he said.

From 1 April, lists of kindergarten attendees for the next school year will be compiled in Kazan and Naberezhnye Chelny.

“The problem of kindergartens admitting children aged 1.5 to 3 becomes increasingly urgent. As of early 2016, more than 25 thousand children of that age, who wanted a kindergarten vacancy this school year, were not provided with them. The availability of kindergarten vacancies for children in this age group is 55 percent in the republic in average,” reported the official. In Kazan, the figure is slightly above 30 percent, while in Naberezhnye Chelny it is 21.6 percent.

Tatarstan Education Minister Engel Fattakhov recalled in the past three years more than 150 kindergartens had been built in the region and over 30,000 new vacancies created.

A major renovation plan had been launched, within which 52 institutions were scheduled to be repaired during the year, he added.