Preschool education in Russia: availability and accessibility

The article analyzes the problems and prospects of availability and accessibility of preschool education in Russia. It shows that the preschool education system has experienced and is still experiencing significant tensions: at the beginning of 2014 2.7 million children needed a place at a pre-school education establishment. The situation is complicated due to the reduced number of kindergartens in previous years caused by the education system transition to per capita funding and the fertility decline in the 1990s (in 1990-2013 the number of kindergartens in Russia reduced by 2 times). In this situation the number of children seeking place at a pre-school organization is by 20% more than in 2010 (145 pupils in 2013 against 119 in 2010) and almost by 1.5 times more than in 1990. The case study of the Vologda Oblast reveals that in urban areas the situation in the preschool education sector is worse than in rural municipalities: in 2014 a city kindergarten, on average, had to admit 197 children, a rural one - 74 children. At the same time, in cities the number of organizations that implement preschool education programs has not decreased in comparison with 2010, while in rural areas their number has reduced by 1.5 times. Moreover, during only one year (2013 - 2014) the number of rural pre-school organizations in the region decreased by 24% (from 256 to 194 units). Nowadays we can witness the active development of alternative forms to solve the problem of providing pre-school education in the non-state sector. The article substantiates the necessity to promote private entrepreneurship in the field of preschool education and reveals that substantial assistance can be ensured by the development of public-private partnership. The author proposed measures aimed at improving social protection of families with children of preschool age: payment of appropriate compensation to the parents whose children do not public kindergartens, bringing the size of child allowance in accordance with the real needs of families.