Kita emergency: Educators Association sees “political failure” of the federal government

Lack of staff and high costs
Kita emergency: Educators Association sees “political failure” of the federal government

The chairman of the VBE educators’ and teachers’ association, Gerhard Brand, has sharply criticized politics in the debate about current cuts in early childhood education. Daycare closures are the result of “political failure”.

Gerhard Brand, Federal Chairman of the Education and Training Association VBE, does not leave a good hair on the federal government’s education policy: Closures of daycare centers and reduced care times are currently “necessary and right” because the number of staff in daycare centers is far too low. Strictly speaking, numerous daycare centers should have been closed much earlier because “there were simply not enough educators to look after all the children at least safely,” writes Brand in a statement on the nationwide debate. Responsible for the development is the “political failure in the past”.

The VBE boss also warns against “expanding the care key even further” in order to solve the problems. There are already too few teachers working in two thirds of all day care centers and the load limit is often far too high.

No staff: Day care centers shorten care times

Many daycare centers in Germany are currently unable to look after children all day. Throughout Germany, childcare times are being reduced and day-care center contributions increased because inflation is causing costs to rise. The Left Party therefore applied for a current hour in the Bundestag on Thursday.

In the debate, Dietmar Bartsch, the head of the Left parliamentary group, accused the parties in the traffic light coalition of operating “their austerity craze on the backs of the children and their parents.” With a view to around 100,000 missing educators and around 380,000 missing daycare places, he spoke of an “indictment of poverty for our country”.

Government rejects allegations

Education State Secretary Ekin Deligöz (Greens) rejected the allegations. She referred to the daycare quality law already passed by the government, for which the federal government is providing four billion euros. “The federal government is acting,” she said, also with a view to the federal program for practice-oriented training that was also decided. In order to counter the shortage of skilled workers at daycare centers, she campaigned for better pay and working conditions, but also for more immigration. “There will be no quality dumping with us,” Deligöz assured.

Source: Press service VBE

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