Nationwide, there is a lack of 378,000 daycare places – despite the legal right to childcare. According to a media report, this emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs to a request from the Left Group.
According to a media report, despite the legal entitlement to care in a daycare center, there are still 378,000 daycare places nationwide. In the age group one to three years there is a lack of 291,000 places, in the group three to six years there are 87,000. This was reported by the editorial network Germany, citing a response from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs to a request from the Left Party’s parliamentary group. The information was based on figures from 2021, it said.
For ten years, children from the age of one have had a legal right to a day-care center place.
“Federal Government withdraws from responsibility”
“378,000 children are deprived of the opportunity for early childhood education and social learning,” said the spokeswoman for child and youth policy for the Left Party in the Bundestag, Heidi Reichinnek, the editorial network. Instead of the federal government taking these numbers as an opportunity to finally give municipalities and states appropriate support in expanding daycare centers, they continue to shirk their responsibilities.
Calculations: 50 billion euros annual costs for daycare centers
According to calculations by the Left Party, the costs for day care centers are now almost 50 billion euros a year, as the report went on to say. The federal government will contribute around 2.8 billion euros, the rest shouldered by the states and municipalities.
“The investment program for day-care centers announced in the coalition agreement does not exist to this day,” criticized Reichinnek. She added: The government is once again breaking its promises, while the chronically underfunded daycare system is on the verge of collapse.