KIRGISTAN
Kirgistan is situated in the middle of Central Asia and has been an independent republic since 1991. Kirgistan has a Muslim majority, but religion here does not have such an explosive role as in many other countries. After several constitutional amendments and „soft“ revolutions, the Kirgistan Ministry of Education turned to the International Association of Waldorf Kindergartens in Germany and asked for help and support for the construction of a free, human education.

After a weeklong visit, many conferences and meetings, it is our intention to start a training course for Waldorf teachers, from autumn 2007 and to gradually introduce Waldorf educational theory and teaching methods in selected “pilot kindergartens”. The parents will also be included in this process. The partners in this project, “Waldorf Education in Kirgistan” are the Department of Education in Kirgistan, the International Association of Waldorf Kindergartens in Germany, a Waldorf curative/therapeutic home, the university and the educational college in the capital Bischkek.

The economic situation in the country is extremely poor and therefore we need help and support for the necessary airfares of the visiting teachers from abroad, educational material, and translations of literature on Waldorf education. The classrooms, interpreters, and financial support for the students’ travel, meals and accommodation are provided from Kirgistan.

Project Leaders:Elmira Imanalieva, Deputy Minister of Education, Bischkek; Igor Schälike from the Centre for Alternative Education, Bischkek, nadeshka@elcat.kg
Peter Lang, Germany, peter.lang@waldorfkindergartenseminar.de

RUSSIA
The Waldorf kindergarten Seminar in Moscow began in 1991. Since then, 231 Waldorf kindergarten teachers have trained there. The education takes place in so-called blocks, where the students come together three times a year for about three weeks in Moscow. In addition to the kindergarten training, the seminar also offers courses in further education for its graduates and introductory courses for those interested in Waldorf education.
 
Today there are about 45 Waldorf kindergartens in Russia that have been started by students trained in our seminar. They are in the following cities: Irkutzk, Ivanovo,  Jaroslawl, Kaluga, Kasan, Kirow,  Krasnojarsk, Moskau, Nabereschnej Tschelnej, Nischnej Nowgord, Orsk, Rjasan, Smolensk, Samara, Tomsk, Tscherboksara, Uchta, Wladimir, Woronesch.

Each of these kindergartens exists through the great commitment and engagement of its  kindergarten teachers and parents. Many are Waldorf kindergarten groups in governmental kindergartens, which means that they work with governmental financial support. In addition to these individual Waldorf groups in large government-run kindergartens, there are also entire government-suppported kindergartens that are Waldorf kindergartens. This is how it is for about 80% of our kindergartens. The other 20% are private kindergartens.

To be a government-supported kindergarten is of course positive on the one hand, but on the other hand it also brings a lot of problems. When a kindergarten is to be founded, the understanding and support of the authorities is needed, in addition to the engagement of parents and teachers. Because of this, it is essential to improve the understanding of Waldorf education by the authorities.

Many steps have already been taken in this direction. In the year 2000, we developed a co-operation between the Waldorf Kindergarten Training Seminar in Moscow and the “Russian Academy of Further Education and Retraining of Educationalists and Civil Servants in the Educational System”. In the spring of 2001, our Waldorf kindergarten “curriculum” was reviewed and recognized by the Russian Ministry of Education.

So one could say that Waldorf education has settled down in Russia and contributes to the change of society, through its educational approach and also by educating freer and politically more mature citizens. During the early years one could notice a great openness to new ideas in educational theory; nowadays however the development is more conservative. We very much hope that our kindergartens can be convincing through their special qualities.

The role of the kindergarten seminar, however, is changing fundamentally:  we now need to protect what we have created. We need to further develop quality and to bring strength and courage into the work through our work together.  One can also experience that it is very important for the kindergarten teachers, being in this insecure outer situation, to have found a purpose and a task. In their encounter with anthroposophy many have found something that they have been looking for their entire lives.

Regina Hoeck

Project leaders: Svetlana, Efremova, Moscow, sdef@mail.ru and Regina Hoeck, Advisor and IASWECE Council Member from Germany, regina.hoeck@arcor.de

UKRAINE
After the political decline of the Soviet Union after 1991, an interest in a free and humane education started to grow in this second largest country in Europe. After 1993, the first Waldorf kindergartens and Waldorf schools opened in Ukraine; since 1995, a Waldorf kindergarten teacher training college is active in Odessa, and since 1998, a second one is active in the capital Kiev. Today there are Waldorf kindergartens and Waldorf schools in seven cities in Ukraine  - Charkov, Dnjepropetrovsk, Odessa, Kiev, Nikolaev, Gorodenko and Schitomir.

Since the “orange revolution” in 2005, the political, financial and social situation in Ukraine has been extremely difficult. High prices and very low salaries are accompanied by  increasing poverty in wider sections of the population.  Many parents and teachers are taking on considerable sacrifices, economizing in order to make it possible for children to go to a Waldorf kindergarten.

 We ask need help and support so that the Ukrainian kindergarten teachers can have the possibility to go to the training colleges in Odessa and Kiev. We also need help in order  to have educational literature translated, and support is needed to enable Ukrainian faculty members and Waldorf kindergarten teachers to travel to  conferences for further education.

For further information, contact Svetlana Exs, IASWECE Council Member, Odessa, e-mail waldorfsem@paco.net; Anatoli Rusinov, Kiev; and Peter Lang, Stuttgart/Germany, e-mail  peter.lang@waldorfkindergartenseminar.de.