An amendment to the Kindergartens Act has recently come into force, which provides free kindergarten for the second and all subsequent children from one family. In the period from 2021 to 2024, the government will allocate a record 114.7 million euros for kindergarten and primary school projects.
As of Tuesday, kindergarten will be free for the second and all subsequent children from one family. This is one of the government’s ways to encourage Slovenians to reach higher birth rates and create larger families, as Slovenians, like most European nations, have become a society of the elderly. The previous left-wing governments did not pay attention to Slovenian families, as they replaced the population deficit by importing foreigners. The current government is aware that in the long run, this is a misguided policy, detrimental to the future of our country, and has therefore turned these trends in favour of preserving Slovenia.
Record sums have been allocated for education
In a public tender on the 5th of February, the government of Janez Janša allocated 42.2 million euros for the co-financing of the construction and renovation of kindergartens and primary schools. There were 40 successful applicants (27 kindergartens and 13 schools). Then, on the 6th of July, the government provided an additional 27.5 million euros to finance all projects that were not originally selected. An additional 46 projects in kindergartens and 40 projects in primary schools will be eligible for those funds.
Thus, in the period from 2021 to 2024, the government will allocate a record 114.7 million euros for kindergarten and primary school projects. For comparison, the left-wing governments, which like to consider themselves the “protectors of public education,” conducted the last tender for co-financing of investments in kindergartens and primary schools in 2011, when they allocated a meagre 20.4 million euros for the period until 2019.
Sara Kovač
