Real lives

A rural child care centre in West Azerbaijan

An art class at Ilobaghi's rural child care centre.

Kosar Alizadeh is 5 years old. She lives in the small village of Ilbolaghi, in West Azerbaijan. Five days a week she attends a kindergarten, part of the village’s rural child care centre, where she reads story books, draws pictures, learns poems and songs and spends time with her friends.

”I wish we had a park here,” says Kosar. “It would be great if we could have a swing and a slide.”

The children are also taught about the Convention on the Rights of the Child. At Ilboaghi, they had written a poem and a song, based on some of the key articles of the Convention.

8-year-old Roghiyeh Taghizadeh puts the finishing touches to her drawing at a Ilbolaghi rural child care centre.

I know about our right to an education, a name and nationality and the right to express our views.

“I know about our right to an education, a name and nationality and the right to express our views” said 8 year old 8-year-old Roghiyeh Taghizadeh, as the class stood up to recite their poem on children’s rights.

The centre in Ilbolaghi is one of 127 supported by UNICEF in disadvantaged provinces of Iran. And they’re not just kindergartens. Rural child care centres also include health clinics where men, women and children can go to get vaccines, advice on health and nutrition and take part in recreational and educational activities. Basic medical services are also offered as well as life skills classes that prepare children for primary school.

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