New kindergarten in Budila to open soon
article writen by Kelly Diederich
A new kindergarten is beginning in Budila through a collaboration of FAST, Budila's Mayor's office, the Director of Education Mihaela Popoiu and the church within the local Roma community, who is donating the free use of their building during teh week. The program is tentatively set to begin in April after the addition of a few more supplies. On March 20, we transported to the new kindergarten classroom a storage closet donated by the Dutch Charity Samen Sterk voor Roemenie, together with plenty of toys and educational materials sent from the UK by The Cleaford Christian Trust.
FAST and the Director of Education Mihaela Popoiu has started this kindergarten program three years ago, with very successful projects first in Zizin and then in Tarlungeni. In Romania, attending kindergarten is not mandatory, so the abilities of the children entering first grade varies greatly. There is already an existing small kindergarten in Budila, but the walk to school is a far distance for most of the Roma children. The new kindergarten will meet in a centrally located church that has agreed to share their space with the class.
With an approximated 20 pupils to begin with, the kindergarten will meet throughout the summer to maximize the potential number of students prepared to enter first grade in the fall. Some pupils will continue on to first grade, some may repeat kindergarten - but either way, progress is being made for these children.
Two young women from the Roma community will be paid by the Mayor`s office to teach the kindergarteners. Employing members of the local community is an asset to the program, as they can relate to the children and the children can relate to and feel comfortable around them. They will help educate the students in a variety of activities, such as counting, learning letters and numbers, hand washing, properly holding a pencil and making small crafts for their family and friends.
We collaborated with the school administration of Tarlungeni to start programs for Roma children about four years ago. We saw many children struggling to finish first grade, so we started `School After School`, a program where children would stay in school after the normal day to work on school assignments or just play and have fun. `Eventually, we would like to start kindergarten projects for all Roma communities in Brasov`, says Ms. Popoiu who is the main educational consultant of the Roma development programs in the whole county.
We are excited to help continue progress for the kindergarten and wish the new students and their teachers the best of luck!
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