An opening ceremony of World Conference “Building the Wealth of Nations”

Opening ceremony of World Conference “Building the Wealth of Nations” on Early Childhood Care and Education organized in Moscow by UNESCO and Russian Federation’s Government took place on September 27. First Lady of Azerbaijan, President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO Mehriban Aliyeva and Head of Russia Office of Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva attended the ceremony.

First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva delivered a congratulatory speech in the Conference.

Address by Mehriban Aliyeva:

Our conference is the first influential international forum devoted to early childhood care and education on this level. The topicality of this theme, to my mind, cannot be overestimated. The first period of childhood is an important phase in mental and physical development of human being. In this period the basis of its future is laid. Besides, in this period, a little man is quite weak and wholly dependent on adults. As mentioned in the Convention on Human Rights adopted in 1989, irrespective of color of skin, social status, religion, all children have equal rights to live, to health, development and education. But children have no idea of their rights. They completely hope for and believe in us – adults. Unfortunately, we – adults justify this confidence not always. Hunger and poverty, wars and conflicts, man-caused and natural disasters remain as severe realities in the modern world. They put an end to lives of millions of children. Children die of disease and poverty, lack of medicine and late medical aid. According to specialists, there are 143 million orphans in the world. There are children with limited opportunities and needing special care. And just they often undergo ignorance from society.   

More than 10 million children in developing countries die from diseases that can be prevented. Millions of children live as an absolute beggar, do not eat to satiety chronically, fall behind in growth and development. The opportunity of these children to study, the level of their education is too low. Today those children need our help. They must be protected from hunger, diseases, wars, conflicts, indifference from adults.

This forum is a real chance to find ways, which will create effective international mechanism for assistance to kids. It is necessary to combine efforts of international organizations, national governments, financial structures.

A lot is done in this field, however there is much more to be done. Only 56% of children in the world can get preschool education. According to statistics, children grown under unfavorable conditions and socially unprotected families but receiving preschool education often successfully finish secondary and higher schools in comparison with their coevals and easily gain respect among coevals. They more successfully get the goals set. Contemporary studies show that the most reliable way to break the defective circle of poverty and provide a chance for a better future is the opportunity of using education in early age.

According to researches carried out in the point of intersection of medicine, pedagogy, psychology and sociology, if children do not receive enough care, attention and love from adults, first of all from their parents, it is very difficult even in most favorable circumstance to compensate the opportunity lost and remove consequences of these processes. In this respect I would like to once more emphasize that family, family environment, parental care and love, their attitude to children’s upbringing and education are most important factors in the future life of every child. 

In our country – in Azerbaijan the family values enjoy huge respect from the ancient times. Respect to adults, care to minors are amazing traditions passing from generation to generation. In addition, the Azeri government pays a special attention to preschool education as the special state program to improve preschool education system was adopted, a network of preparatory groups for preschoolers is expanding at the schools of general education.

Of course, there are problems, too, and many works to be done. I hope that the results of the Conference will help solve existing problems and provide an opportunity to learn about innovative ideas and world`s achievements in the field.

In short, problems discussed today are very different and many-branched. To survive, we sometimes speak of primary measures, creation of ICT for preschool education. The common denominator here is a little human being and its future. This future is in our hands today and for this reason we bear responsibility. I once again would like to express gratitude to all using its force, knowledge, patience, attention and love for the prosperity and happiness of children.