TIROLER TAGESZEITUNG, editorial: “Demand versus reality” by Manfred Mitterwachauer

2023-09-12 20:05:36

Edition from Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Innsbruck (OTS) – The black-red state government is keeping one of its central election promises: the legal right to affordable childcare all year round, all day. Or just half? Only implementation practice from 2026 will provide proof.

Come ye Ye Children! That is the central message that the coalition government duo VP and SP trumpeted across the country yesterday. A key proposal to expand child education and care serves as a bell. Embedded in this is a 10-point package of measures. Ultimately, there should be a universal right to find a childcare place for all children from the age of two. A very noble goal, which LH Anton Mattle (VP) and LHStv. Georg Dornauer (SP) by 2026. Overcoming the remaining hurdles will not be a child’s birthday party.

Tyrol is still lagging behind in early childhood care and education. 29.6 percent of children under the age of three in this country are cared for by others. The EU Council’s Barcelona target is 33. Tyrol lacks a widespread impact here, while kindergartens are more lacking in the credo of “all year round, all day long”. The VP and SP do not deny this need for action. Anyway, that’s a fact.

The legal right to childcare was also included in the government program in 2022. Not in the main proposal that has now been decided. The “legal entitlement” became a “right to find” a childcare place. And the state government has also been using the term “law” quite sparingly for some time now. Consciously. Mattle doesn’t want this to be seen as a legal loophole. Of course, the Tyrolean model will never be enforceable individually.

Nevertheless, all children should have a place if necessary. That is also a big promise. Mattle and Dornauer, as well as State Education Councilor Cornelia Hagele (VP), will still demand that this be redeemed. Financially: The 50 million that will now be released until 2026 is a beginning – but by no means the end. It is not for nothing that the financing model will not be presented until the end of the year. It should then be clear what the Chancellor’s promised 4.5 billion will be in terms of childcare expansion for Tyrol and what the federal government will still grant to the states in terms of financial equalization. Personnel: What if Tyrol fails to train or recruit enough elementary teachers by 2026? How is the space guarantee handled then? Infrastructural: The communities remain the maintainers and operators of the children’s facilities. Whether and how the necessary interaction will harmonize with private and company offers is also still unclear.

The state government’s key proposal is correct. The goal must now be to keep the gap between expectations and reality as small as possible. The children deserved that.

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