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Primary school pupils can be cared for up to eight hours a day from 2026
Photo: Patrick Pleul / picture alliance / dpa
Children who start school in Germany from the school year 2025/2026 should have a legal right to all-day care in the first four school years.
Specifically, there should be a right to at least eight hours of care, including during the summer holidays.
The Bundestag passed a new regulation this Friday.
The Union, SPD and Greens voted for the law, the other parliamentary groups abstained.
"This is an important signal to the children and families in our country, who have been exposed to great stress in the last few months," said Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) after the decision.
All day means more education for children - and for many also more equal opportunities.
Resistance in the countries
The new regulation still has to pass the Federal Council in order to come into force.
According to the GroKo's will, it should pass through the regional chamber before the summer break.
The next meeting will take place on June 25th.
In the federal states, however, there had recently been resistance to the project, and there was even talk of a blockade in the Federal Council.
The federal states fear financial overload and demand that the federal government should contribute even more to the costs than previously planned.
In many federal states, additional places have to be created.
However, there is sufficient capacity in many places, especially in the east.
The federal government contributes more to the costs
In order to meet the needs of the federal states, it was recently agreed that the federal states could apply for funding for the expansion of childcare facilities for one year longer than originally planned.
The federal funds for the infrastructure expansion were increased by 1.5 billion euros to now up to 3.5 billion euros.
"That's a lot of money," said Education Minister Karliczek.
The federal government is also ready to participate in the running costs on a permanent basis, with a perspective of 960 million euros per year.
Children's charity demands quality standards
The German Children's Fund has asked the federal and state governments to keep an eye on the quality of childcare.
"Quality standards have to ensure that all-day care does not end in mediocre custodial institutions in the afternoon," explained the Federal Managing Director of the Children's Fund, Holger Hofmann.
When developing all-day concepts, it is important not only to involve teachers and parents, "but above all to adequately take into account the rights and interests of the pupils," warned Hofmann.
"Clear, Germany-wide uniform framework specifications by the federal government" are needed to ensure quality in the long term.
olb / AFP
