Child care days in Sofia
Nikolay Belalov describes the actions taken by socialists in the capital of Bulgaria to promote the PES child care campaign.
“Searching for the lost kindergartens” – this is how the Discussion club Social Local Policy for called the road show they launched on April 11, 2007. The road show gave start to “Child care Days” in Sofia, also organized by the club. Several cars and a bus with journalists visited neglected, privatized, and plundered kindergartens in Sofia. With this road show the Discussion club drew the attention of both society and local authorities to the drastic shortage of places in the municipal nurseries and kindergartens in Sofia and Bulgaria.
The road show enjoyed full media coverage by the Bulgarian National Radio and several private radio stations, and in the evening – in the national news broadcasts of six television channels. The national news agency BTA, several news websites and three major daily papers also wrote about the events.
In the afternoon the cars arrived at the “Oboriste” park, where we held some outdoor events. The members of the club built an “Outdoor Kindergarten” in a tent. The tent bore a slogan “This is the “Sun” kindergarten. It accepts children only when the weather is sunny”. Young socialists decorated the tent with pictures of the “lost” kindergartens, taken during the road show.
In the “Oboriste” park, the Discussion club organized a concert for the children while collecting signatures for the child care book of the PES. The children also painted a wallpaper “Draw Your Best Friend”. Mrs. Zita Gurmai, President of PES Women, Ms. Lesia Radelicki, political adviser at the PES, Mrs. Marusya Lyubcheva and Ms. Denitsa Slateva, candidate MEPs from the BSP, and Dr. Iva Stankova, an MP all took part.
On 13 April, the “Child care Days” continued with a football match “Mothers vs. City Councilors”. The city councilors Mr. Anton Kutev, Mr. Boris Tzvetkov, Mr. Stoyan Stoyanov, and Mr. Georgi Stoimenov took turns guarding the goal. Ms. Radelicki joined the “Mothers” team. News about the match was published in two daily newspapers and several information agencies.
After the match, Ms. Radelicki, Boris Tzvetkov and members of the Discussion Club visited the “Detelina (Clover)” kindergarten in the Triaditza district. Our guest from the PES was impressed by the conditions in which the children are brought up. According to Ms. Radelicki, if all kids in Bulgaria have the chance to be brought up in kindergartens like “Detelina”, Bulgaria would have a very bright future.
The deputy mayor of Triaditza, Mr. Todor Stefanov, said that all the kindergartens in the district have very good conditions, but currently more than 1,000 children in the region are on the waiting list. Currently another facility is being reconstructed, but even when it is reopened it will not solve the problem with the shortage.
Ms. Radelicki pointed out that the PES supports affordable, accessible and good quality child care for everyone who wants it. She mentioned that child care was debated in the European Parliament in March and that the European Commission will draft a common strategy for child care.
The “Childcare Days” continue. We have already prepared a leaflet for child care. We have also scheduled a football tournament for Sofia kindergartens at the “Slavia” stadium in Sofia. Our efforts have brought the first results. The Supreme Council of the BSP adopted the “Priorities of the Social and Economic Policy of the BSP” which states that by 2010, child care services should be provided to 30% of children below 3 years of age and to 90% of the children between 3 and 7 years of age. On 19 April, the ruling rightist majority called a session of the Sofia city council to debate the shortage of places in child care facilities.
