Thea Morken Augustson became a mother for the first time in December last year.
A challenge has already emerged. Because the child was born in December, they are not guaranteed a kindergarten place in 2022.
– It feels strange that the neighbor, who had a child in November, gets a kindergarten place nine months before us, Augustson says.
She has been in contact with several kindergartens in Nordre Follo, where the small family lives, but everywhere it has been inappropriate to take them in.
Considering a new child
After counting a bit on it and considering various possibilities, there is now a solution that stands out as the most promising so far.
– An alternative is to get pregnant again. If we manage to have a new child by March next year, it will go up, with leave and holidays, she says.
Another alternative is unpaid leave, which many are forced to do in the absence of a daycare place.
– It is not relevant that my cohabitant takes unpaid leave, because he earns the most. So then I have to do it, and I lose both salary, pension and holiday pay, she says.
Augustson is desperate that she will almost be forced to have a new child in order for the leave to go up.
– I wish we could decide when we wanted children on our own terms, and not on the municipality’s terms, she says.
– A gender equality problem
Today, kindergarten admission works so that children who turn one year old by the end of November in the year in which the place is applied for are entitled to this.
If the child turns one year old during August, the child is entitled to a place by the end of August.
If, on the other hand, the child was born in December, there is a risk of having to wait until the following year.
– We must have ongoing kindergarten admissions, here the families must get back the freedom of choice, says Himanshu Gulati, parliamentary representative for Frp.
– IN THE PARLIAMENT: Himanshu Gulati in the Storting earlier in April this year. Photo: Torstein Bøe / NTB
–
He believes that it is a major gender equality problem that some families risk having to wait for months to get a kindergarten place.
– It is mostly the mothers who take unpaid leave, and very many do this. If we want the mothers to get to work, then we must have the kindergarten places ready, he says.
– Will cost 6.6 billion
Elise Bjørnebekk-Waagen is a parliamentary representative for the Labor Party.
She agrees that an ongoing kindergarten admission would be better – but believes it is not so easy to solve quickly.
– I completely agree that the ideal would be continuous recording. The studies we have done around this show that it will cost 6.6 billion kroner, and that we will need 25,000 extra kindergarten places. This is because you will then have to run kindergartens with vacancies, to have places ready when new children come in, she says, and emphasizes that the biggest replacement takes place in August, in connection with the start of school.
She says she hopes this can be solved in the long run – but is clear that this will not be solved from one year to another.
– There are major negative aspects to having to take unpaid leave, and we know that it is good for both families and children to get started with the kindergarten, she says.
–
