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Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007

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emain at home (38 percent). Children from nonurban<br />

settlements do not attend kindergarten due to<br />

long distances from home (26 percent), the age of<br />

the child (24 percent), cost (10 percent) and lack of<br />

places (5 percent); while the cost is given priority as<br />

a reason for non-attendance of children from the<br />

poorest families (19 percent) to distance from home<br />

(9 percent). The lack of places as a reason for nonattendance<br />

of kindergarten is most often cited by<br />

wealthiest families (13 percent) and families from<br />

Belgrade (12 percent).<br />

As the main reason for poor children, Roma<br />

children and children from non-urban areas not<br />

attending kindergarten is the opinion of their<br />

guardians that it is not necessary (a very young<br />

child prefers to be at home), the requirement is to<br />

raise awareness of the importance of institutional<br />

education and upbringing for the overall<br />

development of the child.<br />

The participation of children aged 6-7 years in<br />

preschool education has increased by nearly 40<br />

percent over the past five years. The main reason<br />

behind this increase is in the introduction of a<br />

compulsory and free preparatory preschool<br />

program. However, nearly one fourth of children<br />

from non-urban areas, East and West <strong>Serbia</strong> and<br />

Vojvodina, are not covered by the PPP. Children<br />

from East <strong>Serbia</strong> have the lowest preschool<br />

attendance (71 percent). Participation in the PPP is<br />

greatest in urban areas (87 percent), South-East<br />

<strong>Serbia</strong> (97 percent), Belgrade (90 percent) and<br />

Šumadija (87 percent). Children from households<br />

where the head of household has a low education<br />

level have a significantly lower preschool<br />

attendance level in comparison to the overall<br />

population (57 percent as compared to the mean, 83<br />

percent). Only 53 percent of children aged 6-7 from<br />

the poorest quintile attend preschool education.<br />

Particularly worrying is the fact that 34 percent of<br />

children from families with the lowest expenditure<br />

quintile, and almost 50 percent of children from<br />

households which are below the poverty line, are<br />

not included in the compulsory PPP. Forty-five<br />

percent (45 percent) of Roma children from the<br />

sample attend preschool institutions.<br />

For this age category, the most frequently cited<br />

reason for non-attendance of a preschool institution<br />

in LSMS <strong>2007</strong> is the distance from home, while in<br />

LSMS <strong>2002</strong> it was the child’s wish to stay at home.<br />

Although the attendance of PPP is free of charge,<br />

the price is given as reason in 19 percent of cases<br />

(LSMS <strong>2007</strong>). It is possible that interviewees meant<br />

the travel expenses or money they would have to<br />

pay if the child was staying in the kindergarten<br />

more than four hours. As reasons for non-attendance<br />

in preschool institutions, families from East <strong>Serbia</strong><br />

mention expensive services (28 percent) as well as<br />

their low quality (23 percent).<br />

Over the last five years, the participation of<br />

children from South-East and West <strong>Serbia</strong> in<br />

preschool education has increased.<br />

The average time that children aged 3-7 years<br />

spend in a kindergarten is six hours (6.2 in LSMS<br />

<strong>2002</strong> and 6.1 in LSMS <strong>2007</strong>). The average time that<br />

children from poor families spend in a kindergarten<br />

has increased slightly during the past five years (4.5<br />

LSMS <strong>2002</strong> relative to 4.8 LSMS <strong>2007</strong>), but it is<br />

still far below the average for the whole sample. In<br />

<strong>2002</strong> and <strong>2007</strong>, children from non-urban areas, on<br />

average spend one hour less in kindergarten or in<br />

preschool intuitions than children from urban areas.<br />

Preschool education has an important role in<br />

preventing failure in school and social exclusion.<br />

An increase in participation of children in<br />

preschool education allows a higher rate of<br />

enrolment and decreased attrition of children from<br />

primary education, especially those children from<br />

those areas that are socially and culturally<br />

deprived. It is necessary to take additional<br />

measures to remove all obstacles to total coverage<br />

of children by PPP. The analysis of data obtained in<br />

LSMS <strong>2002</strong> and LSMS <strong>2007</strong> allows us to assert that<br />

the basic target groups needing special attention in<br />

this respect are children from poor families,<br />

children from households where household head<br />

has lower education, children from East <strong>Serbia</strong>,<br />

children from rural areas and Roma children.<br />

Introduction of compulsory preparatory preschool<br />

program should reduce the differences in children’s<br />

readiness for schooling. However, data shows that<br />

this form of education still does not cover all those<br />

who need it the most: children from the poor<br />

families, Roma children and children from rural<br />

areas.<br />

100 <strong>Living</strong> <strong>Standards</strong> <strong>Measurements</strong> <strong>Study</strong> - <strong>Serbia</strong> <strong>2002</strong> - <strong>2007</strong>

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