SOLD!

The nursery school, the favourite teacher, the favourite seesaw, "nap time", jelly, semolina porridge, piano and children's matinees at every holiday - what good and cherished memories! Almost every Soviet-era childhood was inseparable from the nursery school - it was almost a must for kids. That working parents had to leave the apple of their eye somewhere during working hours was not the only reason. The main issue was pre-school education which, in many Soviet kindergartens, was, indeed, very good.

It is pitiful to see what has become of these kindergartens today: inadequate material resources, buildings that have not been repaired in 50 years and poor-quality food. Needless to say, kindergartens of this kind are not particularly popular. But many parents are left with no choice other than to entrust their kids to unprofessional carers despite the disrepair and lack of homeliness.  First, there is no one else to look after the child while the parents are at work and second, not everyone can afford the expensive nursery schools and kindergartens where everything is great and everything is taken care of. The lack of professionalism stems from the fact that, in general, the occupation of kindergarten assistant is far from the voguish idea of the "elite" and very few young girls (we won't even mention young boys, for obvious reasons - Writer) dream about becoming a teacher in the pre-school education system. Who wants to fuss over toddlers for such a paltry salary?  We have to say here that only those who achieve poor grades in the university admission exams and who join the pre-school education department do this: they are forced to become carers, although they dreamt about the legal profession. One cannot help thinking that the job of a carer is so out of favour in our country that only those who barely passed the admission tests take it on. But the nursery school is an extremely important phase of child development. This means that the process should be supervised by a professional who - this is very important - really wants to be a pre-school teacher.

It is clear that this issue is just a small part of one big crisis in pre-school education in Azerbaijan.  After all, only a few people can afford to send their child to an "elite" nursery school which costs $300 or more per month. This is why President Ilham Aliyev issued a decree last year on the privatization of nursery schools. The motive? Kindergartens in Azerbaijan are far from shipshape, so the situation may improve if they are sold into private ownership. So the process started. There are 1,764 kindergartens in the country, of which 240 are to be privatized. Their sale price is influenced by the condition of the building, the number of children etc. Of course, we might debate long and hard about whether the privatization of kindergartens, in other words, the automatic termination of their free status, will help to resolve the problem of "neglect" in the pre-school education system of the country. However, it is important to keep in mind the fact that the privatization of institutions of preschool education has already started. And not only government organizations, but the public sector also, must watch the process closely to ensure that it is taking place in accordance with the letter, as well as the spirit, of the law, especially as alarm bells have already begun to ring. An important condition for the transition of kindergartens to the private sector, as stipulated in the presidential decree, was that pre-school education facilities must not, on any account, change their profile for any reason.

What are the facts?

The results of the monitoring of the privatization of kindergartens by the public association, Support for Social Development, aroused heated debate in the media and the non-governmental sector. Baxtiyar Hasanov, head of the association, said that the privatization of kindergartens is a pressing issue in Azerbaijan because this problem is directly linked to the issue of children's rights in the country and, in particular, the right to free, pre-school education.

"As it stands now, we are stating a fact: the privatization of kindergartens has given rise to numerous violations of the law, perpetrated by their new owners. These violations affect both the children themselves and the teaching staff of the pre-school institutions, which are today experiencing massive job cuts," Hasanov noted.

Thirty-six pre-school institutions which had already been privatized or were scheduled for sale were monitored. "Our goal was to supply an answer to the question of whether the privatized facilities retained their educational profile, as required by the presidential decree. In particular, the decree says that, although by law all privatized facilities are free to change the profile of their activities after three years, if the new owner so wishes, this legal provision should on no account apply to pre-school educational facilities. However, we have found facts which testify to the contrary.

As R+ was told by project coordinator Cahangir Mahmudov, the monitoring group learned from interviews with management and staff of kindergartens in the Nizami, Xatai, Narimanov and Azizbeyov districts of Baku that there is talk by the new owners of starting high-rise construction projects on the sites of the kindergartens. But there is an important factor here. The presidential decree requires that, when privatization sales are announced, the management and teaching staff of pre-school institutions should be given priority. They should be offered special, favourable terms, which will enable them to become owners of their institutions. For example, they should be allowed to pay just half the price in advance and pay the rest by instalments over the next two years. If the kindergarten is privatized by its staff, part of the sale price will be paid by the government. But all these provisions were ignored during privatization, and the rights of staff were violated: they were offered only a 15% share after privatization.

Furthermore, before the start of the privatization process, the number of teaching staff in a number of kindergartens was artificially increased by hiring people who had nothing to do with the kindergarten and who also received their part of the 15% share. "At the auction sales, the prices of kindergartens which were to be privatized by their staff were artificially inflated to AZN 2-3 million [US$2.37-3.55 million]. In fact, their real price should not have exceeded AZN 30,000 [US$35,000]. This was done with the intention of creating a situation in which the staff of the kindergartens would not even think about taking part in the privatization process," Mahmudov stressed.

Yet another violation of the provisions of the presidential decree was that many pre-school education institutions were closed down indefinitely after privatization. "The decree says that privatization will take place in Azerbaijan to improve the quality of their work and to ensure capital repairs to the kindergarten buildings, which are in a sorry state, are carried out. However, the monitoring mission found that only those nursery schools whose buildings were in relatively reasonable condition, and which did not require capital repairs, have been privatized thus far.  Those buildings which are situated in remote areas of Baku attract no one and are not being privatized.  It is clear that kindergarten buildings which are in good condition are repaired only in order to open trading shops there. Their central location is an extra advantage," Mahmudov noted.

In his opinion, it can already be said with certainty that 30% of the kindergartens in Baku are facing the threat of total disappearance. "The new owners absolutely do not care where the children will receive their pre-school education." The interesting thing here is that the members of the monitoring group have never managed to meet any of the new owners of the kindergartens. "They will do anything to hide. All this tells us is that the new owners are sloppy in meeting the requirements of the presidential decree and often simply turn a blind eye to them," Mahmudov said.  The first monitoring was carried out in kindergarten No 176 at 20, R. Rustamov Street in Nizami District.  Mahumdov says that when the group arrived there early in the morning, they heard the children crying. The teachers in the courtyard explained that the children were hungry. It emerged that the kindergarten was attended by children whose parents have material difficulties. They take the children home only on Sundays and bring them back on Mondays. Sometimes the kids do not see their parents for months. "A few days before its privatization, government funding of kindergarten No 176 was suspended. This is why the children there are in desperate need of food: because of limited funding, there is not enough food for everyone; the kindergarten is not properly supplied.  And there is effectively no contact with parents. All this time, the children were fed by the teachers and families of refugees who also live on the kindergarten's premises. Furthermore, the majority of parents did not know that the kindergarten had been privatized. When we told them that it had been, they expressed their displeasure at the fact."

From interviews with the teaching staff it became clear that, although they do not know who privatized the kindergarten, the privatization process was marred by numerous irregularities.  First, the fact that the identity of the new owner is a secret causes general displeasure and concern.  Although the staff were supposed to have priority in buying the kindergarten at the auction, no one suggested that they should. They were told that they had already profited from their long years of work there and could therefore only count on the 15% mandatory share.  There were old pine trees and other ornamental trees in the garden.  However, most of them are dying due to lack of care. According to the teachers and neighbours, yet another high-rise apartment building is to be erected here - this is why no one waters the trees.  Indeed, our monitoring shows that the main reason why kindergartens with large gardens stop functioning is nothing other than the desire to wait out the legal period of three-years, under the pretext of repairing - despite the statement in the presidential decree that kindergartens must under no condition change their profile….

Another area where monitoring was conducted is Narimanov District. Almost all the kindergartens were privatized there. The monitoring group first went to kindergarten No 81 at 59, Aga Neymatulla Street.  Although the kindergarten stopped functioning under the pretence of capital repair, our observation was that there was no need for repairs at all. It was established after interviews with neighbours that the kindergarten stopped working quite some time ago. Attempts to contact the teaching staff also failed. The family of refugees which lives in the kindergarten building do not know who privatized it, whether it will resume work and if so, when. They just said that some man spoke to the head of the family and allowed them to stay there in the capacity of guards. The kindergarten has the greenest land in the district. "In a situation where people have fewer and fewer places to go for a walk and when high-rise buildings grow where there used to be children's sand pits, the privatization of kindergartens by unidentified individuals for unknown purposes raises justified concerns and displeasure among the population," Mahmudov said.

In Sabail District, privatization is under way at an accelerated pace: six kindergartens have already been sold off. The greatest number of violations of the law took place during the privatization of kindergartens No 53 and No 25 in this district. During the auction, their price was artificially inflated to AZN 3.5 million.  This automatically sidelined the teaching staff, despite their strong protests.  Everyone ignored them, however.  The staff were not allowed to take part in the auction.  The total area of the kindergarten building is 150 square metres, there are 12 teaching staff and 40 children.  With an initial asking price of AZN 5,136, the kindergarten eventually went for the incredible price of AZN 3.5 million.

Unfortunately, we cannot give the monitoring results for all 36 kindergartens visited by the monitoring group. But one thing is clear: the privatization of kindergartens is marred by numerous violations of the 23 August 2006 decree of President Ilham Aliyev.

There is no other option

Commenting on the above-mentioned facts, Narmina Alnagiyeva, chief consultant of the general and pre-school education department at the Education Ministry, told R+ that there were attempts to take advantage of the fact that kindergartens are usually situated at a distance from other buildings and to build high-rise apartment buildings. She also said that this is not a secret to anyone any longer.  "Let me give you an example of the seizure of the territory of kindergarten No 259 in Narimanov District. Back then, the Council of Ministers and Education Ministry were quick to react to the incident - the project was suspended. We do not know of other cases of this nature, but I can assure you that as soon as these types of problems arise, parents and teachers immediately report them to us," the Education Ministry chief consultant said.

As regards the lack of food at kindergarten No 176 at 20, R. Rustamov Street in Nizami District, Ms. Alnagiyeva noted that that particular facility is no longer functioning, and has not been for a long time. Answering the question as to whether the Education Ministry monitors the process of the privatization of pre-school education establishments, Ms. Alnagiyeva stressed that it was practically impossible. "We only react to reports we receive if they are of a negative nature."

At the same, the chief consultant of the general and pre-school education department of the Education Ministry declared that examples of positive experiences from privatization already exist:  kindergarten No 5, "where, from our observations, all is well. After all, the prospective owners must provide proof that they can afford to supply the kindergarten with all the necessary materials prior to privatization." Ms. Alnagiyeva also agreed that many kindergartens were closed down for repairs after privatization.

She confirmed that, naturally, privatization of the state-owned pre-school education institutions might potentially lead to a situation in which children from impoverished families would not be able to attend them. "We know that there are many poor families, refugees, internally displaced persons in the country. If all the pre-school institutions are privatized, attendance statistics will fall. This is why privatization should not apply to all the kindergartens in the country. The parents would not be able to afford their children's tuition. The only other way is to allocate 15-20% of admissions to children from poor families," Alnagiyeva noted. "But, at any rate, the principles of a market economy necessitate privatization of facilities. We must make it obligatory for the owners to retain the facility's profile. If there was a kindergarten in the privatized area, there must be a kindergarten after privatization too."

Ms. Alnagiyeva said that, currently, the country needs 379 new kindergartens. "At present, more than 65% of kindergartens in the country need capital repairs. We know that the heating system does not function in more than 70% of them. Only 451 kindergartens have central heating. There are districts in the country in which 51% of kindergartens are heated by gas stoves, and 7% use firewood. 1,683 families of internally displaced persons live in various pre-school institutions. In Baku alone, 737 families live in kindergartens."

The Education Ministry's position is that the net effect of privatization of the kindergartens will be positive in terms of improving the quality of pre-school education in Azerbaijan.

The department is certain that an atmosphere of healthy competition between state and private pre-school education establishments will be created in the future which, for its part, will help improve the quality of pre-school education. Because refugees and internally displaced persons reside in some of the kindergartens which are to be sold, the presidential decree requires that families which moved in there between 1991 and 1998 are allowed to remain there until they can return to the Azerbaijani territories which are currently occupied by Armenia. Answering the question as to how the privatization of such kindergartens can take place, Ilham Pirmammadov, head of the Ministry Staff, told R+ that the persons or organizations which are going to privatize the facilities will be responsible for the issue of places of residence of the refugees and internally displaced persons.

"Despite the fact that privatized kindergartens will no longer be free after renovation and remodelling in compliance with hygienic norms, the Education Ministry will not interfere in pricing policy. The prices of their services will be set by the kindergartens themselves," Mr. Pirmammadov said. In principle, this is already practised unofficially in Baku. Despite the fact that, formally, the kindergartens are free, the parents are already used to paying AZM 10 to 30 per month to teachers.

On the other hand, the State Committee for Management of State Property notes that private investment in this sector should give an impetus to further improvement of the situation in kindergartens. These measures are taken within the framework of the implementation of the State Programme for the modernization of pre-school education for 2007-2010, which was approved by the Azerbaijani president.

In short, representatives of the government sector are optimistic. But, in conclusion, I would like to note this: the process of privatization of kindergartens should still be under closer monitoring by appropriate government bodies, but the public should not relax its vigilance either. After all, this is a matter of the highest importance - the rights of our children.