Fri, 29 Oct 1999

New Waldorf school opens in Riazan / Neue Waldorfschule in Riazan

By Christian von Arnim

Riazan, 29 October (NNA) - A new Waldorf school has been opened in Riazan, Russia. Teaching at the new school began on 1 September with 16 pupils at the start of the Russian school year.

The initiative is the culmination of seven years' work which began with the establishment in 1992 of a Waldorf teacher training seminar, then called the Centre for Waldorf Eduction, in the town with British and German support. The Center was formed as the umberalla organisation for a school and a kindergarten.

But problems with the authorities in having the school authorised as well as internal disputes meant that progress has not always been smooth. As a result, the new school was founded which started work in September. It is due not least to the dedicated work of the founder of the Center, Nadia Borisova, that the project is getting back on an even keel.

The need to re-register the project with the authorities led to the Center for Waldorf Education being renamed Waldorf Initiative.

A key element in gaining acceptance for the project has been the insistence by Borisova that Waldorf teacher training should be offered to a level which would be officially recognised as being equivalent to a state qualification.

“In order to gain full acceptance, we must learn to integrate what Waldorf education is into the Russian education system,” Borisova argues.

She therefore built up links with the Moscow State University for Culture which validates the three-year post-graduate diploma from the Initiative. The first five students graduated last summer and another five are in the pipeline. Borisova is also building up contacts with the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In a further development, the three-year diploma is being turned into a five-year undergraduate course which currently has 40 students. In this context, Karla Kiniger from the teacher training seminar in Edinburgh, Scotland, who has visited Riazan regularly each year since 1992 as a teacher trainer, said: “We are very glad that we now have the five-year course, as it gives a much greater chance for students to develop their skills.”

Borisova herself trained in Waldorf education at Emerson College and the Stuttgart teacher training seminar.

Apart from the tremendous problems of every-day life faced by the majority of Russians, keeping the project itself financially afloat continues to be a constant struggle.

Riazan, with its academic tradition (it housed one of the two key Soviet military universities), has a population of approximately seven hundred to eight hundred thousand people and is situated some 200 kilometres south-east of Moscow.

ENDS

Financial support for the Waldorf Initiative in Riazan can be sent to the Hermes Trust, The Mansion, Kidbrook, Forest Row, RH18 5BJ, United Kingdom. Tel.: +44 (0)134 282 6104. Donations should be clearly marked “For Riazan”.

N991029-01EN Date: 29 October 1999

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