Erfurt (dpa/th) – In the red-red-green government coalition, there are different views on how the state should behave in view of the imminent end of the federal “Language Daycare” program. The SPD and the Greens as well as the opposition FDP spoke out in the state parliament on Wednesday in favor of preparing for a continuation of the program under state direction. Thuringia’s Secretary of State for Education, Winfried Speitkamp, ??said the federal government had a duty.
The state government therefore currently has no plan B on how to continue after the end of the federal program with the previously funded language day-care centers in the Free State, explained Speitkamp. However, the Ministry of Education is ready to develop such a plan together with the parliamentary groups.
According to the Ministry of Education, around 280 kindergartens in Thuringia are currently being funded via the federal program “Language Kitas”, i.e. around every fifth day-care center in the Free State. They receive additional money for staff who help disadvantaged children with their language development. The program was started in 2016.
According to the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, it should expire on December 31, 2022. “Federal funding programs are always limited in time,” is the explanation from Berlin. In addition, responsibility for child day care and early childhood education in the federal system lies with the federal states.
In the state parliament debate, the CDU education politician Christian Tischner demanded a “Plan B” from the state government if the traffic light coalition actually stopped financing the language daycare centers in a few months.
