Welfare association and GEW warn of gaps in daycare provision

According to the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband and the GEW trade union, daycare closures due to the drop in birth rates in Saxony are threatening to leave gaps in provision in rural areas. The falling number of children and the fact that fixed costs remain the same would present daycare centers with huge cost problems, said Michael Richter, regional director of the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband in Saxony.

Care centers have to close due to falling child numbers

This means that individual daycare locations have to be closed. Last year, 15 facilities were already closed, according to data from the State Statistical Office. "There are white spots in the state," warned Richter. Outside of Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, the nearest daycare center is often not on the way to work, but in the opposite direction. "This means that there are huge distances to cover and the daycare center near the family is gone."

Loss of nursery teachers looms

In addition, jobs will be lost in the event of closures or reduced opening hours. According to Richter, the number of nursery teachers in Saxony will be reduced by almost 900 in 2025, with a further 1,000 professionals switching to part-time work.

According to Burkhard Naumann, Chairman of GEW Saxony, the reduction in hours poses financial problems for those affected. "If a full-time employee is reduced to 30 hours, a quarter of their income is gone from one day to the next." Many educational professionals are therefore looking for a second job.

Richter and Naumann warned of a loss of skilled workers, which would affect young women in particular, as was the case after the last birth crunch in the 1990s. They would then be missing later on when there are more children again and older nursery teachers retire, according to Richter.

New funding model called for

GEW and the Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband are therefore calling for a reform of nursery funding. Instead of a "per-head model", the Free State should contribute more to the fixed costs. In order to ensure that children and parents can continue to travel short distances to daycare centers, they are also calling for daycare centers to be considered part of the regional infrastructure. Similar to schools, decisions on locations could be made locally with network planning, said Richter.