Unique initiative - Applications worth 13 million euros feature at Kitabau.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, 57 applications have surfaced for a state-sponsored kindergarten construction program. So far, these submissions hold a collective value of roughly 13 million euros, disclosed by the Ministry of Education in Mainz to the request of the Free Voters' parliamentary faction. These applications were submitted before the initial deadline in mid-April and are currently under review by the Rhineland-Palatinate Agency for Social Affairs, Youth and Care (LSJV).
As more plans are awaited by the second deadline on July 15, 2024, the Ministry anticipates around 22 million euros in the kitty. This number might increase, if not all the previously submitted applications pass the inspection. In totality, the special program boasts a budget of 40 million euros. While regular state funding supports the building of new kindergartens to add more spots, this program targets securing existing locations or erecting new ones that were previously pulled down, as well as funding necessary sanitation measures.
The current dilemma is a lack of spaces. The Bertelsmann Foundation's "Land Monitoring Early Childhood Education Systems" report, issued at the end of the last year, asserts that 75% of children in the region's kindergartens receive care with "unfriendly" staff-to-child ratios. The analysis sheds light on a deficit of about 27,400 kindergarten places in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Education Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) admitted to the German Press Agency near the end of the previous year that the capacity expansion can't match the mounting demand, regardless of all attempts. "We're struggling to meet parental desires and children's needs," she confessed back then.
Detailed information about this aid program: Legislative inquiry and response from the ministry.
