After-school care for elementary school children? In Bavaria, this is by no means the case across the board - here in many places the traditional picture still prevails: from midday the school child is back home. There is also a lack of personnel for the legal claim.
Gütersloh (dpa/lby) - According to a study, Bavaria has far too few skilled workers to be able to offer every primary school child all-day care by the end of the decade. This is what the Bertelsmann Foundation from Gütersloh calculated in its “skilled worker radar” for day-care centers and elementary schools.
"Bavaria can hardly handle the implementation of the legal entitlement for all children by 2030, the need for skilled workers cannot be covered by then," said Kathrin Bock-Famulla, an expert on early childhood education at the foundation, according to a statement on Tuesday.
According to calculations by the foundation, there will be a shortage of 21,000 specialists for the care of children of primary school age in Bavaria by 2030. Currently, 36 percent of girls and boys in the first to fourth grades in the Free State use an all-day offer. Bavaria is thus well below the average of the western federal states of 47 percent. Families in the eastern German federal states can be even more relaxed when it comes to childcare. According to the information, the rate here is 86 percent.
Another 22 percent of Bavarian elementary school students go to lunchtime care, which is available until around 2:30 p.m. If some of the families took advantage of these shorter offers in the coming years, the need for staff would be lower - but still not to be compensated for with the approximately 4000 specialists who, according to the forecast, will start all-day care by 2030.
In addition: There is also a shortage of staff in the Bavarian daycare centers. According to the Bertelsmann Foundation, 46,000 skilled workers would be needed here by 2030. So there is also competition for skilled workers in Bavaria.
"Sufficient and well-qualified pedagogical staff is necessary, however, so that the legal entitlement to all-day support gives every primary school child the best educational opportunities. Bavaria, together with all those responsible, must immediately launch a long-term specialist offensive so that an adequate supply of personnel is available at least in the next decade." said Bock-Famulla.
The German Youth Institute and the TU Dortmund recently published a study according to which far too few all-day offers are available in Bavaria. 54 percent of the families have needs - and not even 40 percent have a place. This means that many elementary school students, who often finish their lessons at 11.15 a.m., are back home by midday. As a rule, this severely restricts the professional opportunities of women.
In order to fulfill the legal entitlement to a place decided by the federal and state governments, between 108,000 and 136,000 additional places would have to be created in Bavaria by 2030, according to the study.
