On January, 24, the eve of the Day of Russian Students, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Olga Viktorovna Petrova visited Tula and took part in a number of events dedicated to this holiday. 

The first point of the visit was the kindergarten “Solnyshko” of Tula State University.

Our university is one of the few higher education organisations in Russia that has a general education pre-school unit in its structure. Students, postgraduates, lecturers and other university employees can bring their children there.

At present there are 62 children in the kindergarten, 12 of them are children of the students. In total, the university has 77 full-time and part-time students with children under one and a half years old. 

On the holiday eve the mother and child room and the group of short-term stay of children of the university kindergarten “Solnyshko” opened their doors.

Both spaces were equipped thanks to the Tula State University victory in the nomination “Organisation of joint functioning of mother and child room and short-term stay group for children in the educational buildings of an educational organization” of the All-Russian contest “Help a mother to study”, organised by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in 2024 and timed to coincide with the Year of Family in Russia.

The Russian Ministry of Education and Science has developed a set of measures aimed at increasing state support and social guarantees for young student families. All of this made it possible to create mother and child rooms at universities, where young student mothers can leave their children in a specially equipped space under the supervision of a tutor during classes. 

The project operator was Tambov State University named after G.R. Derzhavin. 

The funds allocated under the subsidy and co-financing programme were used to renovate the premises of the kindergarten of Tula State University specially designated for this purpose, and for the purchase of the necessary furniture and toys.

According to Oleg Aleksandrovich Kravchenko, Rector of TulSU, the implementation of this project will create additional conditions for the organisation of an uninterrupted educational process for young parents studying at TulSU, as well as for young lecturers and staff with infants and preschool children. 

Olga Viktorovna Petrova visited the kindergarten “Solnyshko” together with Anna Alexandrovna Brynes, Deputy Director of the Department of State Youth Policy and Educational Activities of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, and Sergey Valeryevich Astashkin, Deputy Minister of Youth Policy of the Tula Region. They were accompanied by Rector Oleg Aleksandrovich Kravchenko and Vice-Rector for Educational Work Eduard Sergeyevich Temnov.

Pupils of the senior group No. 8 welcomed the dear guests with bread and salt. The children recited poems dedicated to their favourite kindergarten. 

Then the visitors got acquainted with the group of short-term stay of children and the room of mother and child. 

Parents can leave their children from 1 year old to 7 years old for up to 4 hours in the organised group. There is everything necessary for children - comfortable furniture and brightly coloured toys.

In the mother and baby room one can swaddle and feed the baby, warm up meals and just relax. There are cots, a rocking chair, high chairs and a playpen. Olga Viktorovna Petrova did not refuse herself the pleasure to sit in the rocking chair. The guest said that it was very comfortable. 

The room itself is decorated in calm peach colours that evoke a sense of peace. It is bright and cosy.

The deputy minister talked to the head of the kindergarten “Solnyshko” Irina Yuryevna Doronicheva about the implementation of additional developmental programmes.  

Olga Viktorovna Petrova was very pleased with her visit to the university's pre-school general education structural unit. The kindergarten itself and the spaces created in it, she noted, give students and postgraduates the opportunity not to fall out of the educational and research process. 

The guest thanked Tula State University for the work done and for the attention paid by the university to young families with small children. All this contributes to the improvement of the demographic situation.

Simuzar Mammadova is a sophomore at the Tula State University Medical Institute. She wants to become a medical examiner.  

Simuzar has two daughters. The eldest, Leila, is two years and eight months old, and the youngest, Ayleen, is just nine months old. 

- The advent of spaces like this in our university nursery is, of course, a very important event. Especially for female students like me! - shared a young mother. - I can leave my children in peace and devote this time to my studies. 

Yelena Bogatikova is a sixth-year student at the Medical Institute. Her daughter Stephaniya is two and a half years old.  

- It's a very good idea! It will make life easier for female students who already have children,’ Yelena said. - My husband and I can think about having a second child. A son! 

Tatyana Krikunkova 

Photo by Mikhail Gindin