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Following the Reindeer
January 2, 2008
Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.
-Standing Bear

In the extreme northern conditions of Siberia, Russian Federation, certain schools follow the reindeers’ migration routes, making education accessible for the herders’ children. Called nomadic schools, these experimental primary schools date from the 1920s and 1930s. Thanks to the revitalization of indigenous culture, they are currently undergoing modernization, with UNESCO support.

Commenting on the UNESCO web site, Sargylana Zhirkova of the Nomadic Schools Development Centre in Yakutia, observes...

“Nomadic schools educate children in their community and natural surroundings, far from population centres. This allows their herder parents to follow the reindeer undisturbed. In many cases, those who run the schools are members of the herder community themselves.

“The nomadic school is a vital institution for indigenous people who lead a nomadic way of life. It provides education while adapting traditional culture to the 21st century.”

However, to increase the quality of education in nomadic schools more trained teachers are needed. The requirements of the job are: a university degree, a good knowledge of teaching methods; familiarity with culture and language of specific nomadic people �" and psychological readiness to endure severe weather conditions."

There is more information on the UNESCO web site about the nomadic schools.




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Comments (1)

Displaying 1 Comment
Jo Anne Loftus · January 02, 2008
Willow Woods Child Development Center
Kansas City, Mo, United States


Thanks so much for EEd. I read it faithfully, and post many of your articles on my bulletin board for my parents to read. Recently, I sent your article concerning the failure of the American Educational system to our local School Superentendent. He has spearheaded a program to implement Univeral Pre-k, which is so poorly done. They do not have nearly enough certified EEC teachers, and have allowed elementary teachers to get unlimited provisional certifications. His "curriculum" is viturally non-exsistent, and he told a room of early childhood educators that his goal was to have "3 year olds writing and Pre-k's reading".

I really depend on EED to keep me informed. Thanks for what you do.

Jo Anne Loftus



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