In regards to the first lockdown that lasted from March to May 2020, the kindergartens licensed for “general education services” (full name in Russian: «Лицензия на осуществление образовательной деятельности. Общее образование – Уровень образования – Дошкольное образование») issued by the Department of Education in Moscow were not closed. They remained open throughout the entire “high alert” period and worked under “special groups” regime. The Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin announced on May 21st 2020 on Russia 24 TV channel that “We have not officially closed kindergartens. They continued to work all the time”. You can find the link to the article here https://icmos.ru/news/sergey-sobyanin-detskie-sady-v-moskve-budut-prodolzhat-rabotat-letom-v-ogranichennom-rezhime.
At the same time, all establishments that provide their services under the “additional education” license such as children’s centres (detskiy centr), educational centres (obrazovatelniy centr), children’s clubs and academies (detskiy club, akademia) were closed under the Moscow Mayor’s Decree.
With this in mind, we think that it is highly unlikely that kindergartens with the license mentioned above will close if there is a second lockdown. According to a recent interview with the Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin, the second wave in Moscow this coming autumn is unlikely.
Still, we will share with you the four things that are likely to determine whether your kindergarten will remain open or not.
- Kindergarten v Detskiy club/centre – based on the first lockdown experience kindergartens licensed for “general education services” (full name in Russian: «Лицензия на осуществление образовательной деятельности. Общее образование – Уровень образования – Дошкольное образование») issued by the Department of Moscow (all municipal preschool educational establishments have this license) are allowed to remain open. Detskiy centres and clubs do not have this licence and will need to close. Therefore, you may want to research whether your kindergarten has this type of educational licence.
- Implementation of the rules by the sanitary inspectorate – kindergartens that have a licence for “general education activity” have to implement the special measures during the Covid19 period including separate entrances for groups, special disinfection of the toys and surfaces, temperature checking etc. You may want to check what Rospotrebnadzor measures your kindergarten implemented and whether your kindergarten can implement these measures in full.
- Medical personnel – the kindergarten will need to either have
(i) a paediatric nurse with a medical degree and valid certificate in paediatrics working at a medical office which is properly licensed by the Department of Healthcare and supervised by a doctor – paediatrician with valid certificates in paediatrics and management of healthcare organisations, or
(ii) a contract with a licensed medical clinic that will oversee the children’s health.
Does your kindergarten have properly licensed medical office staffed with qualified medical personnel who poses all required certificates? - Testing of the staff – all staff members have to be tested before commencing work at the kindergarten. Every 15 days minimum 10% of the staff have to be tested for antibodies. Does your kindergarten test their employees?
If the answers to these questions are yes, then you can be confident that your kindergarten will remain open even if there is a second wave. If your answer is no to any of these questions, then you may consider looking for a kindergarten that is more likely to remain open.