BALKE

OMEP's 40th Anniversary and Seminar

Prague, September, 1988

Eva Balke, Norway, World President

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Forty years ago an important meet­ing was called in Prague to establish theWorld Organization for Early ChildhoodEducation - OMEP. This year we wereinvited by the Czechoslovak OMEP Com­mittee to celebrate the 40th anniversaryofOMEP in the same city.

Thanks go to the Ministry of Educa­tion of the two republics of Czechos­lovakia, the Czechoslovak OMEP Com­mittee, the Universitas Carolinum andthe City of Prague. This was a solemnand festive celebration for OMEP. Onbehalf of the Czechoslovak OMEP Com­mittee, Luboslava Klindova welcomed allpresent. The Slovak Minister of Educa­tion, Ludovit Kilar, opened the seminarand gave a talk about early childhoodeducation and care in his country. Hecongratulated OMEP and welcomed theparticipants. The Representative of theGeneral-Director of UNESCO, DieterBerstecher, read a message fromFederico Mayor and spoke of the long andcontinuous cooperation between UN­Esco and OMEP, both founded in 1948.

The President of OMEP, Mrs. EvaBalke, outlined the issues and problemsfacing OMEP today and summarizedformerly adopted resolutions in a policy

statement. She stressed that OMEP isbroadening its scope to meet the chal­lenge of the work for children in today'sworld. A review of OMEP's history,prepared by Madeleine Goutard, wasread to the audience by Madeleine Ab­badie. Because of personal reasons,Madeleine Goutard, OMEP's repre­sentative to UNESCO, could not bepresent in Prague. The other main lec­ture was given by Lili Monatova and J.E.Purkyne, both from Czechoslovakia.

Several papers were presented:Radka Slavova and Ivan Dimitrov, fromBulgaria, on "The Ideas of OMEP andtheir Implementation in the Republic ofBulgaria"; Emiko H. Ishigaki, fromJapan, on "Education for PreschoolTeachers"; Margaret Weiser, from theU.s.A., on "Perceptual Thinking inChildren" and Jadwiga Kopzynska­Sikorska, from Poland, on "Influences onChild Development." Miroslav Korinek,from Charles University, was amongseveral Czech speakers. He presenteddifferent aspects of early childhoodeducation and development. VaclavKovaricek discussed Comenius and hisideas of early childhood education.

Tuesday morning, September 27th,

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started with visits to kindergartens andto the House of the Children inPrague.There was a beautiful concertTuesday evening in the aula of Univer­sitas Carolinum, one of the oldestEuropean Universities (1348). At aceremony before the concert the Czechos­lovak Committee awarded Commemora­tive medals to founder members ofOMEP, to senior contributors to thedevelopment of OMEP over the years,and to four senior teachers from Czechos­lovakia. At the closing of the seminar thenext day all participants received amedal as a memory of this solemn oc­casion.

There was a reception during a visitto the City Hall of Prague. The Execu­tive Committee was received by the Vice­Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia in thePrague Castle.

A fascinating historical exhibition,prepared by Vera Misurcova, was dis­played in the conference hall. For theoccasion, a history of the first ten years ofOMEP was written by Margaret Roberts,U. K., and published by OMEP. It wasavailable to all participants at the semi­nar..

Luboslava Klindova gave a brilliantclosing address and was presented with agift for the Czechoslovak OMEP Com­mittee. The gift consisted of a uniquesculpture representing a child and wasmade by an Eskimo artist from Alaska.Candide Pineault had selected the gift onbehalf of OMEP. A very interestingprogram of gymnastics by children and avisit concluded the program of the day.

The World Council followed.

PRAGUE