2023-11-22 14:15:00
The Childhood sector, in other words the crèches, lacks resources and it makes it known. A good thousand people demonstrated this Wednesday morning in the streets of Brussels.
According to them, the situation is deteriorating day by day. Young people are moving less and less towards childcare sectors, and experienced childcare workers are leaving the sector. This obviously has serious consequences on the quality of reception and impacts the number of places available, they warn.
Among the childcare workers present at the event, Marie-Christine Lecloud. She works in a crèche which welcomes around a hundred children. She tells us regarding her day: “We start the day and for 3 hours, we are alone with the children. Their number varies: seven, eight, nine, ten children to take care of alone. Then, the colleague arrives at 10 a.m. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., there are two of us for the same number of children and then once more, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., we are all alone for seven, eight, nine, ten children .“
When I first started working, it wasn’t like that
A situation which is far from rare. France Guebel, who works in a smaller structure, experiences the same thing: “At the very beginning when II was working, it wasn’t like that. We had a lot of children who were also part-time at the start. Now the standards have changed. Even non-working parents can leave it all day. Sick children can come because they need to see their general condition. So we also become part-time nurses. So there you have it, we do what we can, we love our work, but it gets hard.“
However, the politician says he has already released resources. But in the nursery where she works, Ophélie Deprez, another protester, sees nothing coming: “I don’t seenecessarily have nnew nursery opening. I don’t necessarily see positions in current daycare centers opening up either.“
The profession no longer attracts young people
Childcare workers supported by nursery management faced with a shortage of resources: “Recruitment becomes very complicated because we can no longer find candidates“, explains Françoise Sleex, director of the municipal crèche in Jette, in the Brussels Region. “There are simply no more students in schools. The profession no longer attracts young people. It’s not just loving children, there is a much greater dimension to this profession, which is a very difficult profession and which is not valued enough.”
The demonstration ended, around 1 p.m., with a release of balloons in front of the headquarters of the MR, the party of the minister-president of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Pierre-Yves Jeholet. Balloons to symbolize promises that fly away.
Before that, the procession also stopped in front of the Birth and Childhood Office (ONE) where a delegation was received.
With the sector at its wits’ end, other actions are already planned for the coming months.
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