Subject: Community Schools Movement in former Soviet Union and EE
From: Al Decie (ECHOal@krsk.ru)
Date: Sun Oct 10 1999 - 16:59:25 EDT
PRESS RELEASE
Contact Person: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Al Decie October 9, 1999
Krasnoyarsk Center for Community Partnerships
Tel./Fax: 3912-55-33-73
Email: ECHOal@krsk.ru
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First meeting of the community school movements of the former Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe to be held in Krasnoyarsk from October 11th to 14th
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>From October 11th to 14th in Krasnoyarsk, the Krasnoyarsk Center for
Community Partnerships, a Krasnoyarsk Krai non-commercial organization,
will host the first-ever meeting of the community school movements of
Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. More than 100 educators and
education department officials from 11 post-communist countries as well as
the USA will be gathering for this unique conference supported by the
Krasnoyarsk Krai Department of Education, the East East Program of the Open
Society Institute and the C.S. Mott Foundation. A representative of the RF
Ministry of Education will be present and relay the Ministry's official
endorsement for the conference.
Community school movements have been developing for 7 years in the
countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The community
school movement has grown the most in East/Central Europe and Siberia where
it has been developing for 7 years and 3 years respectively. The concept
of community education and local models of community schools are being
utilized in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, parts of the former
Yugoslavia and 50 communities in 5 regions of Siberia. The idea of
community education and the community school model have been in existence
for almost 65 years and are being practiced in more than 80 countries.
Community schools play a highly critical role in ensuring the security of
democratic values and practices in society, both through their
contributions to the civic upbringing of youth and their unique
capabilities and position within their communities. They ensure the
effective provision of education and non-education services in their
communities. Community schools help their communities help themselves, to
become self-organized, self-governed, and empowered.
Al Decie, acting director of the Krasnoyarsk Center for Community
Partnerships and executive director for the US non-commercial organization
ECHO, Inc., said that now is an optimal time for a meeting of participants
in the region's community school movements. At this point in the
development of the various regional movements, the conference will provide
a needed opportunity for activists to explore how various post-communist
communities are developing their own community school models and to chart
together broader aspects of the community school movement in the region as
a whole. Through participation of the Ministry of Education and city and
oblast education department officials from all regions of Siberia, the
conference organizers anticipate that the community school model will be
better understood and supported by government authorities.
Such understanding and support are now particularly crucial in Russia in
light of the Presidential decree number 1134 on "Additional Measures For
The Support Of Compulsory Education Institutions In The Russian
Federation" which calls for greater community management and support of
public schools. Decie said that community schools are a vision, task and
hope for the 21st century.
For further information about this international conference on "Community
Schools as a Mechanism for Civil Society Development in Post Communist
Countries", please contact the Krasnoyarsk Center for Community
Partnerships at (tel./fax) 7-3912-55-33-73 or (email) ECHOal@krsk.ru.
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