The North Rhine-Westphalian state government is providing eight rapid corona tests per month for the new kindergarten year. This was announced by the new family minister, Josefine Paul (Greens), on Friday, July 29, in Düsseldorf. Parents should initially receive two tests a week from the daycare centers until the autumn holidays and use them at home for typical symptoms. The tests are also delivered to the municipalities for childminders. The new daycare year starts on August 1st.
In addition, children with corresponding symptoms could be excluded from care in the future as long as no negative self-test is presented. Paul announced that this would enable the Corona Protection Ordinance to be changed on August 8th. “Sick children do not belong in the day-care center,” emphasized the minister. The same applies to all other diseases.
Above all, trusting cooperation with the parents is relied on, whose testimony is usually sufficient. “We want to make sure through the tests that not every snotty nose leads to children having to stay at home,” said Paul. After all, many children have a cold, especially in autumn and winter.
If the self-test at home is negative, the children can be taken to daycare. The financing of tests is also secured beyond the autumn holidays. Protective masks are recommended when bringing and picking up the children, as well as in discussions with parents.
The SPD opposition warned that some daycare centers were already at risk of collapsing because so many educators were absent due to illness. At least in the first two weeks after the start of daycare, tests should be carried out daily, demanded SPD deputy parliamentary group leader Jochen Ott.
The FDP parliamentary group welcomed the fact that daycare centers and schools are generally kept open despite the pandemic. The parliamentary manager of the parliamentary group, Marcel Hafke, criticized the fact that supervisors could in future request a test according to their own assessment, but unsettled the parents.
The minister did not make any specific statements on the question of when exactly the third non-contributory daycare year and free catering announced in the coalition agreement will be implemented. The SPD opposition criticized the announcements as “too thin”. This also applies to the new coordination center “Skilled workers campaign for social and educational professions”, which is due to start work in the Ministry for Family Affairs at the beginning of August. Ott complained that the minister had not shown any concrete ways of combating the shortage of skilled workers.
The teachers’ association for education and training (VBE) described the specialist offensive as overdue. A higher appreciation for early childhood education must also be reflected in better working conditions, for example in smaller groups, emphasized VBE country manager Stefan Behlau.
The Minister spoke of a tour de force for everyone involved. “It must be clear to all of us that this will be a marathon. It won’t be able to be done in a sprint.” As a first step, the new black-green state government extended the daycare helper program until the end of the year. Around 9,000 institutions have already used the opportunity to relieve educators of non-pedagogical tasks through auxiliary staff. “We are making more than 100 million euros available for this,” said Paul.
Despite the pandemic and other challenges, such as the flood disaster, it was possible to continuously expand the range of care. For the new daycare year, 10,742 facilities would be funded – around 130 more than in the past daycare year. A total of 752,000 children would be cared for in day-care centers or with childminders. Under difficult conditions, over 5,500 additional childcare places were created.
Around 217,000 of the 752,000 places are for children under the age of three. This puts the supply rate in this age group at 42 percent. 70 percent of those cared for outside of the family attended a day care center, 30 percent are in day care centers or with childminders.
