Demand for day-care rockets in Finland

WE are currently facing this problem right now. Really hope the municipality will work it out very soon for my Thailer to get a proper daycare.

When my husband & I last spoke to the lady from our municipality in charge of Childcare we still could not get a place for Thailer to a childcare/preschool due to too large demands. We  only have to keep waiting, although it has been almost 2 months already since we submitted an application. Then last Monday I was introduced to another lady who is in charge of a "Special Child Learning" section. She promised to contact the right person and would do her best to put my Thailer at the very first queue eligible for Childcare. Also she will arrange a Psychologist tests on him since he is a foreign kid with almost zero ability to communicate in Finnish. Then the Psychologist should write a reference letter suggesting Thailer needs one more year in Preschool to build up his language comprehension before he could go on to First Grade. This means he will start school 1 year later than other kids in his age. But that's alright because language comprehension is compulsory and it will ensure him the World's top ranked education as we know. 

Let's hope we will hear good news within a week or two. Fingers crossed!  

Demand for day-care rockets

published Mon Jan 9 11:43 AM, updated Mon Jan 9 11:45 AM

Day-care places for children are getting harder to come by in Finland's major centres. Some municipalities have seen a nearly two-fold increase in the number of children applying for day-care at the start of the year.

All of Finland’s biggest cities are experiencing difficulties with the number of children seeking day-care. For example, the number of those seeking a place in Tampere went up to 350 from last year’s 200, while Jyväskylä municipality received nearly 300 day-care applications compared with 160 the previous year.

The biggest demand for places in the capital region is in Espoo. Most day-care places sought are for children under three years old.

The pressure on places has been attributed to different factors, including higher birth-rates in the past few years and the threat of recession pushing mothers back to work in the capital region.

The Association of Kindergarten Teachers in Finland blames municipalities for poor planning when it comes to policies affecting small children.

The Association cites cases where municipalities have closed down kindergartens, only to find that they are desperately needed again in a few years’ time.

YLE 

Source: http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2012/01/demand_for_day-care_rockets_3159847.html