Open all-day school Bonn parents despair over lack of childcare
Duisdorf · After the summer holidays, the son of Florian Bluhm and his wife will start primary school. They wanted to have him looked after there in the afternoons. However, like the children of eleven other families, he did not get a place. Now the Bonn parents are facing big problems.
The letter with the bad news arrived at the beginning of May. "We are pleased to be able to offer you a short-term place for your child from 1 August 2022," the Catholic Youth Agency (KJA) wrote to the eleven families. For Florian Bluhm and his wife, however, it was anything but a happy occasion.
After the summer holidays, their son will start first grade at the Rochus School in Duisdorf. The short-term place means for the six-year-old: Care until 1.30 pm instead of 4.30 pm, no lunch. In addition, he is not looked after for a total of six weeks in the holidays as is the case with full-time care.
According to Bluhm, both he and his wife work full time. He has a permanent job in retail, his wife has a part-time job at the university hospital and works as a self-employed midwife the rest of the time. "We ask ourselves: how are we supposed to manage this with care alongside work?" says Bluhm. "It can't be that it's not possible to find childcare for eleven children."
In November 2021, they registered their son for primary school and a place in the all-day care (OGS - Offene Ganztagsschule), Bluhm says. The council has set the criteria for admission. Above all, the proximity to the place of residence is decisive in determining whether or not a child gets a place at the school.
These criteria are important in the allocation process
As a result, at all OGS locations, children who live far away from home will only get a place if all children who live close to the location could be considered. The other criteria for which points are awarded in the allocation of places include, for example, whether the parents are employed, whether they have a serious illness, whether they are single parents and whether siblings already attend the same school.
How the criteria - apart from proximity to home - are weighted in the allocation process is decided by the so-called OGS council. Each school usually has such a committee, which consists of representatives of the OGS provider, the school management and the parents. The places go first to the families with the highest number of points. If there are fewer places than applicants with the same number of points, the decision is made by drawing lots.
At Rochusschule - and at nine other schools in the city - the Catholic Youth Agency (KJA) offers afternoon care. In the past two school years, the KJA has been able to cover the demand with 184 places - but the existing groups were already overcrowded, with nine more children than originally planned. In addition, the Rochusschule will be undergoing renovations in the summer, which will further aggravate the space situation for childcare.
OGS provider must report demand by March
By the end of March 2022, the OGS providers had to report to the city how many places will be needed after the summer holidays. "This deadline - set by the state - was known to all providers," writes the press office. The KJA reported 184 places because this corresponded to the demand of previous years.
According to the KJA, the childcare offer is already overcrowded with 184 children. Actually, they are cared for in groups of 25 so that the pedagogical offer does not suffer and the care is efficient. Just like the city, they were surprised by the size of the class.
In addition, parents whose children have a school place can register their offspring for the OGS even after the March deadline, according to the KJA. Therefore, it is always difficult to calculate the actual demand. For all these reasons, eleven children are now on the waiting list.
The KJA informs us: "We have registered these eleven places with the City of Bonn. We will not know for sure until October whether the city will take over the financing of the late registrations and whether the children will receive a place. Until then, the KJA is offering the parents of the eleven children short-term care until 1.30 p.m."
Childcare offer is already oversubscribed
The families who have now come away empty-handed have sent an email to the city because they wanted to know why it was not taken into account that the need for childcare places was higher than reported. They write: "So we are facing an extremely difficult situation." Bluhm says he does not know who is supposed to pick his son up from school, make him something to eat and supervise him in the afternoon. He hopes grandparents can help.
In its response, the city offered the families another school and OGS place. Bluhm reports that when asked, it turned out that the school is in Friesdorf. "It easily takes half an hour to get there," he says. "The offer is out of touch with reality." The Bluhms and the other parents now have to wait to see if the district government will release additional OGS places in mid-October and if their son will then get one.
OGS offer to increase continuously
According to the press office, there were 8881 OGS places citywide in the past school year 2021/2022. This means that more than two out of three primary and special school pupils can get a place. As reported, the number of places on offer is to increase continuously every year. The city council had already set a target of 80 per cent OGS places for the 2018/19 school year, long before the introduction of the legal entitlement to an OGS place from 2026.
The legal entitlement is of little help to Florian Bluhm and his wife. They need a place for their son now.
