For more than two months now, the work of private and state kindergartens has been suspended due to the conditions of prevention of the epidemic in the country and the state of emergency.
By the Commandant’s decision, most of the restrictions have been lifted since 4 May. Parents who can go to work cannot stay home and take care of their children.
In a conversation with Iravaban.net, Lilit Nikoghosyan, the director of “Hrashamanuk” care center, mentioned that these days parents often apply for reopening and their care center has its own way of working according to the necessary rules.
“I think that bringing or not bringing a child should be at the discretion of the parent, because we are not a state organization and we do not receive any support from the state. The parent trusts, that’s why they want to bring the child. It should also be taken into account that private kindergartens do not have enough children to be dangerous. Each kindergarten and care center has its own version. We have a yard where it will be possible to keep the social distance and the necessary rules,” Lilit Nikoghosyan said, adding that they are ready to resume work and are waiting for the relevant order.
Nune Ganjalyan, director of the “Alle” Children’s Development Center, testifies that her working parents have applied to them many times.
“It’s really a serious problem for working parents. There are families where children are twins, or adults will not be able to take care of them. At the moment, the number of children in the center is not so high, that’s why the parents are much calmer,” she says.
However, Nune Ganjalyan notes that these restrictions are appropriate because it is very difficult to maintain social distance among children and prevent the spread of infection.
“Children come from different families, everything is possible. Of course, we can maintain cleanliness, disinfect toys, but the social distance between children is impossible to maintain, and to guarantee that the infection will not spread, we cannot, I think our government has a very good idea of this,” the head of the center said.
The Iravaban.net talked to the working parents who have faced this problem during this time.
Ani Poghosyan, an employee of the banking system, said that she had to take her 4-year-old son to her grandmother every day and go to take him in the evening, which, according to her, was “expensive and tedious.”
“I can’t leave the child at home, or naturally to take him with me to workplace, the only option is to take him to his grandmother’s house every day. We don’t have our own car and the public transport doesn’t work. There are only taxis left, on which we spend a lot of money,” the mother of the child says.
Our other interlocutor, Armenuhi Hayrapetyan, who works in a dairy factory, said that after the closure of the kindergartens, she had to take her two children to her parents living in Ararat.
“My husband and I work in the same workshop. We have to take the children to Ararat, where our parents live. I haven’t seen my children for already a month. My elder son is in school, and the other one is not yet 4 years old. If the kindergartens start working, at least I will be able to take care of him, because he will be there when I work,” she said.
Shushanna Badalyan’s school-age daughter takes care of her 5-year-old sister. “I work in the service sector, and during this state of emergency we continue to work, if it weren’t for my older daughters, I don’t know what I should have done. There are hundreds of working parents like me, whose children attend kindergarten, and in this situation it would be a great help for us if at least a small number of children start attending kindergarten,” Shushanna Badalyan said.
Vahan Hunanyan, spokesman for the Deputy Prime Minister, Commandant of the State of Emergency Tigran Avinyan told us that the issue of opening kindergartens is still being discussed, and if there is a decision, it will concern everyone.
Hakob Karapetyan, the spokesman for the mayor of Yerevan, said that small groups may soon be opened in the kindergartens under the jurisdiction of the municipality, for the children of parents with special needs.
Diana Harutyunyan
