Inclusive Kindergarten Program

January 2021 marks the beginning of a grand development project targeting kindergartens in the VIII. district of Budapest led by three collaborating organisations: the VIII. district’s Municipality, the Rosa Parks Foundation and the Partners Hungary Foundation under the name ‘Inclusive Kindergartens’. The aim of the program is the creation of an institutional network which is appealing to a broad section of the local community, that neutralises the harmful effects of originating from a disadvantaged background, offering an inclusive, efficient and high-quality education for young children providing a solid foundation for their education.

The Rosa Parks Foundation aids this program by sharing their legal, sociological, social and special needs education resources.

We had a survey made amongst the parents of the district regarding their kindergarten choice preferences, analysing each kindergarten of the district in terms of their headcount and the children’s sociocultural composition. We provided feedback on the VIII. District’s new kindergarten districts and took part in the policymaking process.

Our social workers assisted the parents in the process of choosing kindergartens, helping those who due to their language barriers or for any other reason had troubles with the online enrollment system.

Since the autumn of 2021 our special education personnel and social workers began to assist three kindergartens’ freshmen class in proper physical competence development and to aid the cohesion of the community of parents in order to create an inclusive community of the parent-kindergarten-child network in practice. Our social worker provides assistance to the kindergartens in order to limit the negative impact of any potentially emergent crisis in the families on the children’s integration and education.

The program has been funded by the European Commission’s Department of Justice and Consumers.