Children from Stolac, Čitluk and Mostar enjoyed the Open Preschool Two-Hour Session

- This was the best day of my life - said a six-year-old from the village of Čerin near Čitluk, after attending the "Open Preschool Two-Hour Session" which was held today in Mostar. This was the first time that this boy, along with several of his peers, traveled by school bus and attended organized classes and social activities. 

In an interesting outdoor classroom, under a tent set up in the city center, the gathered children received a symbolic two-hour lesson in preschool education. Future first-graders from Mostar, Stolac, and Čitluk attended the event, and educators from Mostar public kindergartens worked with them.

Members of the Stolac City Orchestra also graced the gathering and learning in Mostar, socializing with the children during breaks between songs and showing them their instruments.

Following similar events in Bihać and Grude, the Save the Children organization organized an Open Preschool Two-Hour Session for children from the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, in order to draw attention to the fact that the preschool program in the year before starting primary school is not implemented throughout the entire country, although it is mandatory according to the Framework Law on Preschool Education of BiH. Future first-graders from the Una-Sana and Herzegovina-Neretva Cantons, and the West Herzegovina Canton do not have the opportunity to attend the minimum of 150 hours spread over three spring months in the year before starting school, which is a practice mostly implemented in the rest of the country. Many children living in these areas start primary school without a single day spent in a preschool program.

For this reason, the Save the Children organization has launched the campaign "Every Child #withoutEXCEPTION", and besides events for children, an important segment of it includes round tables for professionals, in order to change the situation for the better starting from the next school year. In these efforts, they have received full support from the ministries of education of the aforementioned three cantons.

"A big thank you to the Save the Children team. We obviously need help, because we do not have that law and we do not have compulsory preschool education. I believe that the initiative they have started will also awaken other relevant factors, which are ultimately crucial, because it is about financing. That is the part we lack, and we have everything else. We have goodwill, employees, I saw a wonderful working atmosphere, a perfect relationship among people who, in principle, did not even know each other. I am satisfied, and the conclusion was that any help Save the Children can provide us - we will accept it with all our hearts" - stated Ružica Mikulić, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of West Herzegovina Canton.

The Save the Children organization in BiH, within the campaign "Every Child – without Exception", is focused on creating opportunities for all children to have a foundation for a good and equal start through access to compulsory preschool education. It has been proven that children who attend preschool education are statistically better in school, emotionally more mature, socially more aware, more creative, and healthier.

Every child in Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of their place of residence, ethnic affiliation, gender, or health status, has the right to a compulsory preschool program in the year before starting school. In this way, every child, without exception, will get the best possible start on the path to achieving their dreams.