Joanna Nyczak, Head of the Health Department, which is responsible for managing day care centres in the city, would like to apologise to parents for the delay. "Only two days ago, we were still in the process of collecting the results. It turned out that some children were accepted by two centres and we wanted to clarify the situation," she explains.
367 places in 28 private-owned day care centres were offered in the enrolment process in August. It now known that 263 children failed to qualify even though they met our basic criteria: they are residents of Wroclaw, their parents work and pay their taxes in Wroclaw.
300 places to be provided
Their parents, should not wring their hands. The Health Department representatives have the idea to solve the problem.
"We will soon provide additional places with municipal subsidies, both in private- and state-owned day care centres, so that each and every child is provided with necessary services," reassures Joanna Nyczak. As of October, the municipality plans to provide 100 additional places in state-owned day care centres. This is their plan. "Those rooms that are used either as dorms or playrooms will perform both functions and become more versatile. Apart from this, we will hire extra personnel to take care of the children," she emphasises.
Additionally, the municipality will announce a competition for private-owned centres to provide places for 200 children. The results of the competition will be announced in September and, from mid-October, those children who failed to enrol will be taken care of by new centres. The Head of the Health Department claims that the estimated number of places should meet the demand, especially as there is natural turnover at the beginning of each year, which in turn allows for the recycling of up to 300 places. "Our several years of experience tell me that some parents will give up on sending their children to day care centres, and their places will be filled with those from the waiting list," says Joanna Nyczak.
Wroclaw provides 3851 places in all its day care centres, both state- and private-owned, including 3447 places with municipal subsidies. Wroclaw performs well by comparison: Krakow and Poznan offer 45% and 39% fewer places with municipal subsidies, respectively.
Should you have any questions do not hesitate to call the Health Department at 71 777 77 60
Eliza Głowicka
