Groen comes up with its own recommendations for tackling the crisis in childcare. According to the opposition party, the proposals that the majority parties are drafting do not go far enough. Members of Parliament Celia Groothedde and Björn Rzoska argue that the current standard of 8 or 9 children per supervisor should be drastically reduced to 5 children per supervisor, and substantial investments should also be made in the sector.
The childcare inquiry committee in the Flemish Parliament is currently considering its final report with recommendations. But opposition party Groen does not agree with the direction of those talks. “If we want to rectify the crisis in childcare, we think much more is needed than what the majority parties are now putting on the table,” said Green MP Celia Groothedde and party leader Björn Rzoska. According to Groen, the current recommendations contain “too little ambition and too little urgency”. According to Groen, the majority parties mainly want to focus on “punishment and control”, while much more attention should be paid to “the development of strong, high-quality childcare”.
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Groothedde and Rzoska believe that parliament and the government “must now go ahead and seriously work on reforms”.
Priorities
Groen sets three priorities: The party argues for a substantial reduction in the number of children per supervisor. At the moment that is 1 to 8 or 9. That ratio must be gradually increased to 1 to 5. “No one can take care of 9 children alone, and in reality often even more. Anyone who continues to claim today that this does not pose any safety risks after all the testimonials over the past few weeks, denies the sunlight,” says Groothedde.
In addition, significant investments are required. Not only for the reduction of the child ratio, but also to expand the workforce. Investments should enable better working conditions and reform of the workplace and training. “You cannot structurally tackle the crisis in childcare without providing the necessary resources,” Groothedde said.
Finally, the precautionary principle also needs to be strengthened. For example, the party believes that violations of the child standard should be done away with. According to the party, there is a possible connection between these exceedances and incidents in childcare.
Groothedde and Rzoska believe that parliament and the government “should now go ahead and seriously work on reforms”. “Otherwise the work of the inquiry committee has been for nothing and much worse, childcare will once again be left to its own devices,” concludes the Groen duo.
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