Prien on daycare center closures: Situation very different

Following reports of daycare closures, particularly in eastern German states, in recent months, Federal Minister for Family Affairs Karin Prien has pointed out the different conditions in the country. When asked, the CDU politician told the German Press Agency that everyone is becoming increasingly aware that the problem situation in the western German states is completely different to that in the eastern states.

The situation is different again in the big cities. There is no one solution for all, said Prien. "Rather, in the eastern federal states, we will have to consider how we can deploy staff who are currently in daycare elsewhere through further training."

Collapse due to "underutilization"?

While there is still a shortage of childcare places in the west, depending on the region, reports of impending closures have been doing the rounds in major eastern German cities such as Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz for around a year. The decline in the birth rate is cited as the reason.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the education and science union complained that redundancies had already been announced at daycare centers in individual municipalities due to declining child numbers. In Saxony-Anhalt, nursery staff are being deployed in other areas due to a lack of children. Closures have been reported in Thuringia, for example in Weimar. This is necessary to prevent the daycare system from collapsing due to underutilization, the city said.