Kitas in Gießen before collapse: Where are the teachers?

Kitas in Gießen before collapse: Where are the teachers?

In Gießen, the Situation in the urban daycare centers is tense because there is a considerable lack of personnel. This was recently discussed in a meeting of the social committee, in which the youth welfare office manager Vanessa Jane van Harsselaar and department head Olga Büber-Fast explained the pressure situation. Seven limited areas are currently vacant, which leads to regular activations of emergency plans. This necessity means that opening times have to be shortened and entire groups have to be closed temporarily. The current disease level in daycare centers is even higher than before, which also tightens the situation.

The challenges in the daycare centers are reinforced by the lack of educators. According to an analysis, a total of ten places are currently missing in ten urban daycare centers. In addition, 15 daycare centers have restricted their opening times due to the lack of personnel for several days. In the U3 area (under three years), the lack of childcare places is particularly serious: at the end of September, a total of 389 childcare places was missing, of which 206 were for children under three years. A look at the facts shows that only 287 places should have been missing without the acute lack of personnel.

measures for improvement

In order to meet the precarious situation sustainably, the city plans to create over 400 new care places by 2026, with 321 of them being intended for older children and 92 for U3 children. In addition, the city is investing in the binding of pedagogical specialist staff through the financing of additional forces in family centers. The youth director Gerda Weigel-Greitlich stated that there is no overview of the situation in free organizations.

With regard to the bottlenecks in the training of educators, the demand for reforming the training paths will also be reformed. An open letter from 26 mayors from the Main-Kinzig-Kreis emphasizes that the hurdles for access to training should be reduced. The current regulations that prescribe a two -year training as a social assistant before the three -year practice -integrated training (PIVA) lead to a training period of up to five years.

social challenges

In addition to the problem of childcare, Gießen is also faced with social challenges, especially in the northern city center. This district has a high migrant population, and 19% of the 3,600 residents receive citizens' money. In comparison, 44% of children and adolescents live in poverty, which significantly exceeds the Gießen average of 26%.

In response to these challenges, the northern city center was included in the Hessian urban development program "social cohesion" in order to improve the quality of life of the people living there. Measures such as an integrated urban development concept should help to tackle the lack of greening and the unattractive public meeting points in the northern city center.