The expansion of childcare in Upper Austria is progressing. This is the result of a survey by the office of State Councilor for Education Christine Haberlander (VP). According to this, Upper Austrian childcare facilities will be open an average of 8.5 hours per day, 48.5 weeks per year in the period 2023/24. This is an increase of 1.5 weeks compared to the previous year. According to Governor Thomas Stelzer (VP), overall, “a huge leap forward has been made”.
Regional differences
In addition, the proportion of kindergartens that meet the VIF criteria, i.e. the compatibility of family and work, has increased by 11 percentage points to 39 percent. However, this is still a long way from the frontrunners Vienna (91 percent) or Burgenland (73 percent). Overall, the number of VIF-compliant institutions in the state has increased from 238 in the previous year to 329.
Further improvements are expected to come from the free morning care in crèches starting September 1st. However, the “path to becoming the number one children’s country” announced by Haberlander is being followed at different speeds in the districts. While the VIF rate in Wels-Land has increased by 31 percentage points, it has fallen by 6.3 points in the city of Steyr.
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