The meeting of the Coordinating Council of the Governor on the family, motherhood, fatherhood and childhood

The Head of the region Alexey Ostrovskiy chaired a meeting of the Coordination Council on the family, motherhood, fatherhood and childhood. It was also attended by the co-chairman of the Coordinating Council, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Roslavl Isidor, heads of executive authorities of the region, representatives of the clergy and public organizations.

Opening the meeting, Alexey Ostrovskiy pointed out that the implementation of the state demographic and family policy, aimed at improving the demographic situation in Smolensk region, is a priority in the work of the regional Administration.

Over the past three years in Smolensk region there has been steady growth in the number of large families. In 2015, 1,327children were third and subsequent born to the Smolensk families, which is 205 children more than in 2013. The number of large families, compared with 2013, increased by more than one hundred and a half, and now there are 5,174 large families.

According to the Governor, solving the problem of providing children with places in preschool educational institutions plays an important role in fertility increasing. As of January 1, 2016, the region has provided 100 percent availability of preschool education for the children aged 3 to 7. But at the same time there is still a problem of providing places in kindergartens for the children aged one and a half to three. Today there are 2,390 kids like this in Smolensk.

During the discussion, the chairman of the Public Chamber of Smolensk region Nikolai Mazhar suggested paying attention to the support of the family in the rural area. The Head of the region supported this initiative and asked to discuss the issue at a meeting of the Public Chamber and formulate proposals to be included in the action plan.

Also, members of the Coordinating Council considered the issue of preventing and reducing the number of abortions in Smolensk region, and also evaluated the effectiveness of measures to reduce abortions.

Furthermore, Alexey Ostrovskiy instructed the Culture and Tourism Department to work out the format of the film shows for family viewing, including the territory of municipalities, in the framework of the Year of the Russian cinema, declared in accordance with the Decree of the President.