Childcare in Bavaria remains a hot potato. The government wants to counter the lack of educators, in which even less trained staff looks after the children. Sharp criticism comes from the opposition.
Munich (dpa / lby) – Bavaria is trying to counter the shortage of skilled workers in the day-care centers of the Free State with innovative models and sometimes by deliberately sacrificing quality in the educational offer. In so-called entry groups, which are organizationally connected to kindergartens, untrained workers can also look after children up to four years of age, said Social Affairs Minister Ulrike Scharf (CSU) on Tuesday in Munich.
The new kindergarten year begins on Thursday (September 1st). “We are making cutbacks here as far as the educational mandate is concerned,” said the minister. The mini-daycare centers with a maximum of twelve children, which were initially only tried out as a model project, have also proven their worth.
The SPD politician Doris Rauscher, chairwoman of the social committee in the state parliament and social policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, criticized the procedure. “The quality restrictions now planned do not meet the needs of the children. This is more creative accounting than an investment program,” she said. Instead, investments must be made in training and better pay for educational staff.
Criticism also came from the Greens. “Larger groups and years of play and entry-level groups without specialists as a reaction to the deficit in daycare places that has existed for years is a declaration of bankruptcy by the Minister of Social Affairs for her own educational standards,” said Johannes Becher, spokesman for early childhood education for the Greens in the state parliament. “For far too long, the state government has preferred to invest in income-independent fee relief rather than in quality. And now it’s taking its toll.”
Sharp emphasized that there was a need to increase the workforce, but this was made more difficult by the shortage of skilled workers. “There is only one thing that helps: we have to continue training, we have to bring more people into the system,” said Scharf. For all-day care in primary schools, for which there is a legal entitlement from 2026, a further 160,000 childcare places would be needed. “We support every place that is built,” said Scharf. The municipalities had received a clearance certificate, so that the eligibility for funding was also guaranteed for buildings that had already begun. However, existing buildings would also have to be used for all-day care – such as primary schools, which are largely unused after 1 p.m.
Overall, the benefits of the Free State for children have gone up significantly in recent years, outlined Scharf. In 2014, the Free State spent 1.875 billion euros on family benefits, of which 1.6 billion went on childcare. In 2021, 4.157 billion euros were spent on family benefits, of which 2.885 billion were spent on childcare.
