Again about working hours of kindergartens. Response from City Hall

Recently, Womennet has touched upon the problem of working hours in kindergartens in Yerevan, noting that working hours are a serious problem for parents who want to return to work. We reminded that the previous composition of the Yerevan Council of Elders has always kept this issue in mind, suggesting making changes in the RA Labor Code and accordingly, one of the parents of a child attending the kindergarten has the right to finish work early. However, the offer was rejected. The author of the proposal, by the way, was currently Vice President of the National Assembly Lena Nazaryan.

WomenNet.am has sent an inquiry to the Yerevan City Hall to find out the extent to which the current city government is interested in this issue whether it is on their agenda, especially in the light of statements made by Mayor Hayk Marutyan on  kindergartens. We wanted to find out whether the extension of kindergartens’ working hours is on the agenda of the municipality. What kind of solution should this issue be in order not to violate the labor rights of kindergarten employees? We also tried to find out the position of the current Yerevan City Council members on this matter.

To my surprise, the response from the municipality came very quickly, but nothing contained its content. In response to the public relations department of the municipality, they were reminded of what had been known before, but the essence of the issues had not been addressed. Here’s the answer:

By the decision of 2833-A of June 30 of tMayor of Yerevan, hours for keeping children in community-based kindergartens are set at 8.30-17.30. In order to accommodate working parents, the duration of keeping children at 39 pre-school institutions was set at 19:00. In the number of 13 kindergartens there are long-term groups, according to the above-mentioned decision. There are no long-term groups in other kindergartens included in the approved list, because of the lack of demand, or parents refuse to include children in a mixed group of different age groups, with a change in tutor, “the response said.

Anna Javakhyan, a member of the “My Step” faction of Yerevan Council of Elders, also received similar response from the municipality, In her Facebook page, touched upon the issue, as well as published the answer she received.

“The working hours of the kindergarten are a problem for working mothers working in kindergartens today. The point is that people’s work is ending at 18:00 and the kindergarten is closed at 17.30. It’s no secret that some kindergartens in Yerevan have long-term groups that have been set up to solve this problem. I understand that this is not a systematic solution; it should be done in this direction. But the longevity they had at the moment could already be a solution for some mothers working. But I’ve long noticed that many of these groups are not actually working. That’s why I decided to send a request to the Department of General Education of Yerevan Municipality to find out which kindergartens are there in the long run? Are they functioning at all? It turns out that yes, as many of us knew in Yerevan, the duration of keeping children at 39 pre-school educational establishments was set at 19.00, however, because of the lack of parental demands, long-term groups operate only in 13 kindergartens.

Mrs. Javakhyan is right when she insists that her parents should demand the activation of long-term groups in kindergartens that are on the list.

Speaking to WomenNet.am, 33-year-old Anna Karapetyan told that despite long-term groups in her kindergarten did not work, she and some other parents asked the authorities to solve this problem.

“We understand that a long-term team does not work in our kindergarten, so we suggested to give some money from our kindergarten so that a nurse or tutor would keep the children until 18.30-19.00. I’m ready to allocate 30-40 thousand drams a month, and I think it will be a good addition to the salary which we all know is rather low for this complicated job. However, the administration did not agree, ” she said. Of course, this is not the question that can be solved by self-government, the consent of the city authorities is required. But Anna says, she is not alone, there are many parents who are willing to pay money, but only to be sure that the child remains in a kindergarten under the supervision of professionals.

Anna still hopes that the problem will be resolved and the municipality will actually understand the situation of hundreds of parents and will solve the problem with long-term groups.

Lia Khojoyan