| Comenius Foundation for Child Development | |
|---|---|
Foundation's English logo |
|
| Motto | Bo jakie początki, takie będzie wszystko For the beginnings determine all that follows |
| Formation | September 2003 |
| Type | NGO |
| Purpose/focus | Child welfare |
| Headquarters | Warsaw, Poland |
| Region served | Poland |
| Official languages | Polish |
| President of the Board | Teresa Ogrodzińska |
| Main organ | The Foundation's Board |
| Website | www.frd.org.pl |
The Comenius Foundation for Child Development, or Comenius Foundation for short (Polish: Fundacja Rozwoju Dzieci im. Komeńskiego, or Fundacja Komeńskiego), is a children's welfare non-governmental organisation based in Warsaw, Poland, established in September 2003. The Foundation's goal is to provide equal educational opportunities to children aged 3-5 years, particularly in rural areas of high unemployment, in response to a dramatic decline in preschool education services in Poland. Only 38% of children aged 3-5 attended pre-school, which means that some 750,000 children in this age group is left out of pre-school care. In rural areas the attendance figure is below 10%. This is the worst result in the whole European Union.
The Foundation organises and conducts training for teachers, school and kindergarten headmasters, teachers and local educational authorities.
The Foundation's "Where There Are No Pre-schools" programme aims at helping rural communities to develop new models for early-childhood education, based on local financial resources. A pilot scheme was set up in 28 rural communities, where 75 Early Childhood Education Centres have been set up, with over 800 children. Educational activities are provided by teachers trained by the Comenius Foundation to use the project approach in the classroom. The local authorities cover the costs of the teachers' salaries and the premises, whereas the Foundation is responsible for financing the teacher training, monitoring the quality of teaching and setting up local libraries. An external evaluation of the programme, commissioned by the Foundation, will enable modification while the programme is being implemented.