Demand lacking for Swiss childcare centres

Are kindergarten places scarce in Switzerland? This is no longer the case Keystone-SDA

Some Swiss cities have an oversupply of childcare places, reversing the historic trend of limited options for working parents.

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Declining birth rates, changing mindsets about raising families and costs are thought to be behind the phenomenon.

“Parents of twins can also find a place in a few days in most Swiss-German cities,” said Frédéric Baudin, co-president of KiQ, the Swiss association of private kindergartens, reported by NZZ am Sonntag. The phenomenon affects Zurich and Bern, for example.

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The causes? On the one hand, there is the decline in births, and on the other, changing habits. “There are many more couples taking care of their children at home as much as possible,” the expert explains. And on Fridays, a typical father’s day, facilities are half-empty.

Is Switzerland, then, a childcare paradise? Not at all, argue advocates of promoting daycare centers. “The situation in some cities cannot be transposed to the whole of Switzerland,” points out Maximiliano Wepfer, spokesman for the Swiss Federation of Childcare Facilities.

In most municipalities, the situation remains tense: in such places the supply needs to be further expanded, since the demand exists.

According to Nadine Hoch, director of the Federal Commission for Family Affairs, it is not true that there are too many places, they are simply too expensive for parents. “The demand for places in daycare centers is primarily a matter of cost,” the specialist argues.

Translated from Italian by DeepL/mga

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