East SPD politicians warn of daycare center deaths

Faced with falling numbers of children in daycare centers in eastern Germany, SPD politicians are warning of a loss of federal funding and calling for more support to maintain facilities and jobs. "The daycare structures are about to collapse again," write the daycare policy spokespersons of the SPD parliamentary groups in Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in a demand paper to be sent to Federal Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU).

Due to demographic change, the number of children in eastern Germany is falling rapidly, according to the paper. "This has serious social consequences. The well-educated and, above all, young professionals fear for their professional future," write the Social Democrats.

Demographic change hits the east

While many regions in western Germany are desperately looking for specialist staff for daycare centers, the demographic change is already hitting the eastern German states with force: child numbers are falling, daycare places remain vacant and facilities are closing in some places. According to the letter, the eastern states are trying to counteract this with various measures. But this costs money.

The SPD politicians fear that the situation could worsen from 2027 because they have so far been able to use funds from the federal Childcare Quality Act to improve staffing ratios and recruit specialist staff. "The planned discontinuation of federal funding for these areas of action is not justifiable," write the Social Democrats.

Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) had announced that she would present a draft law in the area of early childhood education this year. "The expansion of places required in the west and the recruitment of pedagogical specialists to secure existing and future legal entitlements cannot be implemented at the expense of the east," the paper states.

The social democratic daycare politicians in the eastern German states are therefore calling for

• further funding for the staffing ratio in daycare centers and for the recruitment of qualified specialists
• financial support for longer daycare times in crèches and daycare centers of more than eight hours
• that the federal government secures new standards set by it "through increased, adequate federal funding".

Longer opening hours, qualified staff

In their paper, the SPD politicians draw attention to differences between the east and west German daycare landscape. In eastern Germany, there is a well-developed, nationwide daycare network that enables eastern German women and single parents in particular to juggle work and family life. "This is because more couples and more women work full-time in the east," write the Social Democrats.

The proportion of children under the age of three who attend a daycare center is 22 percent higher than in the west. The opening hours of East German nurseries are also often longer. This means that parents who start work early in the morning or finish work late can also take their children to nursery.

"However, the staffing ratio in all age groups is still a long way from that in western Germany," the SPD politicians concede. However, the eastern German states are working on improving the quality of daycare centers, according to the paper.