Day nurseries, new 734.9 million euro plan starts

The Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, has signed the decree for a new Nursery School Plan worth EUR 734.9 million. The Plan, in line with the objectives of the NRP, aims to increase the number of nursery school places in order to improve the educational offer from early childhood onwards and offer concrete help to families.
The resources put in place derive, in part, from savings from the previous Plan, launched last year, and, to an equally significant extent, from additional funds recovered in the budget of the same ministry. A considerable effort to increase the new places already achieved and to reach the European target of the NRP.

"This is an investment to which we attach strategic value for the quality of the school system, and not only. Our goal is to expand a service that is fundamental for reducing disparities in starting points, while at the same time meeting the needs of families and women in particular, to whom we are offering an additional tool for reconciling work and motherhood," says the minister. "As with the previous Plan," Valditara continues, "we are counting on achieving maximum results also thanks to the simplification of rules and procedures, accompanied by constant support for the administrations involved, which are decisive prerequisites for being able to seize the opportunities of the NRP.

The decree, in addition to ascertaining and mobilising the available resources, defines the criteria for allocating them among the municipalities, taking into account ISTAT data on the current coverage of the service in the 0-2 age bracket, the resident population, and the number of children in the 0-2 age bracket.On the basis of the projects financed with the previous call, and taking into account the overall increase in prices and the assessments of the European Commission carried out during the verification of the European milestone of the NRP of June 2023, a parametric cost applicable to the realisation and construction of new kindergartens, as well as to the reconversion of buildings and properties not already used as kindergartens, was defined.
The described criteria made it possible to identify a list of beneficiary municipalities and to quantify the amount due on the basis of the minimum number of places to be activated.
The 14 metropolitan cities, in consideration of the territorial extension of these areas, will all have a share of resources available to activate and upgrade the kindergartens, regardless of the level of service coverage already achieved for the 0-2 age group.

In any case, smaller municipalities than those identified, and with a smaller resident population in the 0-2 age bracket, may also apply, joining with neighbouring municipalities by means of an agreement, in order to guarantee a more effective and sustainable joint management of the service.