Village Kindergarten Spared After Mother's Appeal to Authorities

Ksenia, a mother of many children and blogger from Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, appealed to the authorities to preserve the only kindergarten in the village of Chistoye, Chkalovsky District. Ten children aged two to five attend it, and if it closes, they will have to travel by bus to a neighboring settlement, the girl said in her video address. Followers helped spread the information — soon it reached the authorities.

“We have nothing in the village as it is. There is no gas, but people continue to live here. They closed the school — children travel 15 kilometers by bus to study in a neighboring village. Recently, they closed the pharmacy, and this is already a matter not of convenience, but of survival. … And they want to take away the last thing that holds young families — the kindergarten,” Ksenia said.

Her appeal was commented on by representatives of the Chkalovsky District administration, where the village of Chistoye is located. They noted that the issue was considered in mid-January and they do not plan to close the kindergarten.

“An analysis of the dynamics of the preschool-age child population in this settlement shows that there are no grounds for closing the kindergarten. The institution will continue to operate in the new academic year in its existing status,” emphasized the department.

Last fall, the regional Investigative Committee initiated several cases of abuse in kindergartens in Nizhny Novgorod. For example, parents mass complained about a teacher who worked in one of the preschool institutions in Gorodets — children from her group allegedly returned home with broken fingers, bruises on their arms, and burned nails. And in Pavlovo, nursery group teachers humiliated and insulted children, who due to their age could not even tell about it. This became known when the mother of one of the toddlers, suspecting something was wrong, placed a voice recorder in his pocket.