On the eve of the Day, teachers met with a kindergarten teacher from the smallest regional center of Belarus

The population of the urban village of Dribin, Mogilev region is about three thousand people. There is one kindergarten, so when a teacher with 30 years of experience Irina Kravtsova walks down the street, several generations of her pupils greet her.

The territory of the preschool in Dribin is immersed in greenery. There is its own fruit garden, beds for labor education and even an improvised weather station. Recently, a new game town appeared in the garden. Kids go for a walk - and it feels like everyone starts the engine. But when the teacher Irina Nikolaevna offers to discuss together where the rain comes from, the guys quiet down and listen to the mentor with his mouth open.

Now Irina Kravtsova has the highest qualification category, and in 1998 she came to Dribin as a young specialist. By the way, a year earlier, by presidential decree, the place changed its status and turned from a village into an urban-type settlement, active construction began here: housing, a hospital, a kindergarten. Irina was born in Klimovichi district, finished nine classes perfectly, studied at Mogilev State Pedagogical College. Distributed to Dribin, enthusiastically set to work. She said: I always wanted to be a teacher. There are seven issues in my biography. Sometimes I can feel sorry for myself: here, children take so much power. And I said, "Don't feel sorry for me." It's for love. My students are an endless source of inspiration. It is worth seeing these trusting eyes in the morning, hearing the laughter of children or being in their arms - and fatigue disappears. Since this year, the teacher, who with his projects and developments wins in competitions at the republican level, began to combine work with children with the position of deputy head of the kindergarten. Today there are 113 pupils in the garden, among them girls and boys from 19 large families, says Irina Kravtsova:

- It is very important for me that the Head of State pays such attention to the development of our small Dribin. The President repeatedly visited us in the 1990s, when the district center received an impetus for development, and more recently Alexander Lukashenko supported the proposal to enlarge the Dribinsky district and correctly said that the most important thing is a positive social and economic effect. We want young people to stay here so that more children are born.

According to Irina Kravtsova, the subprogram “Children’s Garden and School – Territory of Success” is a key element of the state program “Intellectual Belarus” for 2026-2030. The total amount of financing of the state program for the current five-year plan is 6.4 billion rubles, most of which is allocated for the modernization of the infrastructure of kindergartens and schools to create the “territory of success”:

- Raising a child is a team game where kindergarten and parents play in the same team. Of course, the development of a digital educational environment is a requirement of time. But it is much more important to teach the child the most important thing – humanity. I want to give them a piece of our love and warmth, so that after decades, having learned about the success of our pupil, we froze with pride and thought to ourselves: “Our man!”

kukshinskaya@sb.by