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There is an unbelievable amount of poppycock around kindergarten places. Let us begin by stating that creating kindergarten places for all (!) applicants is laid on local governments by letter and spirit of the Law. With hundreds and thousands of children denied, the obligation goes unfulfilled.
We would not imagine, would we, hearing it placidly stated that 4,000 or 700 or seven kids cannot go to 1st grade as the schools are full. Likewise, the Mayors’ bravado a la «we have improved the situation» is vain until kids continue to be turned away.
As explicitly stated in Clause 10 of Pre-School Child Care Institutions Act: «County or city governments shall provide all children of 18 months to seven years of age, resident in the administrative territory of the given county or city and whose parents so desire, with the opportunity to attend child care institutions of the service area.» The precisely specified age – starting age of 1.5 years – has been included in the text for years.
In Tallinn, the greatest lack is felt with crèche places (kids aged from 1.5 to 3). Essentially, this means that thousands of mothers cannot go to work and earn money as the parental benefit runs out. Obviously, this will immediately punch a painful hole in the family budget, but the repercussions abound – from women’s career options to a lower pension pillar. In addition to that, the kindergarten deficit robs mothers of the assurance of getting their kids in as they turn 3. It is also imprudent, socially, to keep ladies off from labour market by not providing kindergarten places.
The worst being the kindergarten insecurity postponing births of new babies. Thus, the Tallinn leaders talk that investing in new kindergarten places is futile as birth-rate is in decline anyhow becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
For years, the Tallinn city government has blurred the heart of the problem by declaring the entire city a single service area. However, Tallinn is large enough to keep families in trouble even if there should prove to be a vacancy at the other edge of it. Local governments have been left the option to determine service areas in order to most prudently administrate the services, knowing the local specifics and people’s needs best. Regrettably, at least in the case of Tallinn, this has become justification for years-long demagogical drivel.
Number of kindergarten places has, mainly, increased merely by cramming more kids into existing institutions – which, in turn, raises questions related to health protection, as well as security and quality of education. Even so, back to the basics: «Done!» may only be exclaimed when all kids have a place in a kindergarten. As long as that is not the case, local governments are not fulfilling the obligations laid on them by law.