Demands for improved care conditions for children in daycare centers in Saxony

Dresden (dpa/sn) - On the day of action for day-care centers in Saxony, demands for better care for girls and boys have once again been raised. "The nursery teachers in Saxony finally need more time for our children," explained Green Party politician Christin Melcher. Her party had therefore already spoken out in favor of a moratorium on daycare centers in May. After all, falling child numbers offer the opportunity to further improve the quality of childcare in daycare centers. In a joint motion by the CDU, Greens and SPD, the update of state funding for daycare centers will be addressed: "This is an important signal for all daycare centers, providers and families in the state."

Landtag to decide next week

The daycare moratorium is intended to ensure that funding for daycare center staff remains stable even with falling child numbers. The state parliament still has to approve the coalition parties' motion on funding. The next session will take place next Thursday. The Left Party in the state parliament had already applied for a moratorium on daycare centers in parliament in August. With the day of action under the motto "Red alert! Save daycare centres - stop staff cuts" was intended to once again draw attention to the concerns of several parties and organizations.

Staffing gaps in daycare centers are noticeable every day

"The day of action underlines how high the pressure on daycare centers and educators is. After many years of focusing on providing sufficient daycare places, the demand can now be met. Nevertheless, the childcare ratio in practice is often not appropriate for children and the gaps in staffing are noticeable on a daily basis," emphasized Christin Melcher. Saxony has excellently trained teachers. "Now we need to continue investing in the quality of early childhood education - the "demographic return" must become an educational plus. The moratorium is the first step towards this, and others must follow."

Left: Pressure from the street is still needed

In the opinion of Left Party politician Juliane Nagel, pressure from the street is still needed to secure daycare centers in the long term. "It is very important that parents, daycare staff and many other people publicly stand up for securing daycare centers and retaining staff." The coalition of Minister President Michael Kretschmer was successfully pressured to adopt such a moratorium on daycare centers with the Left Party motion. However, the state subsidies should not only remain stable in the near future. Even a new coalition must not make cuts to daycare centers. Saxony must maintain its subsidies and increase them in the medium term. Neither the municipalities nor the parents should be burdened additionally.

Educators' Association sees urgent need for action

The Saxon Educators' Association (SEV) also sees an urgent need for action. "The decline in birth rates is already noticeable in Saxony's daycare facilities. In some facilities, new recruitment has been halted and more and more often, temporary contracts for nursery teachers are not being extended," explained SEV Chairwoman Katja Reichel. Politicians must act now to prevent further staff cuts and possible daycare closures.

Union calls for better staffing ratios

According to the education union GEW, the focus is on improving staffing ratios following the agreement on a moratorium on daycare centers. "We urgently need more educational specialists for smaller groups, more time for the individual child and to relieve the burden on staff," explained the head of the GEW in Saxony, Burkhard Naumann. Back in May of this year, GEW Saxony, together with the alliance "Strong daycare centers for strong children", handed over more than 37,000 signatures to the Ministry of Education, demanding significantly better conditions for early childhood education.

Currently, the staffing ratio for working with children in Saxony is 1 to 5 (crèche) and 1 to 12 (kindergarten). Saxony therefore looks bad in a nationwide comparison. The ideal ratio for the care of children under the age of three is one educator for three children, in kindergarten it is 1 to 7.5. In its annual analysis, the Bertelsmann Foundation has long come to the conclusion that care in Saxony's daycare centers is not appropriate for children. Saxony's Minister of Education Christian Piwarz (CDU) had also spoken out in favor of keeping staff in the facilities that are freed up due to falling birth rates.