Lower Austria: Holiday care in 80 percent of the communities

"The summer holidays are the best time of the year for children and young people, but for parents they are always associated with organizational challenges in terms of childcare. Here the state of Lower Austria is helping with various offers for communities - with financial support and educational assistance," said provincial councilor Christiane Teschl-Hofmeister on Thursday in the Markersdorf-Haindorf elementary school, where she and the mayor of the market community, Friedrich Ofenauer , which presented this year's holiday care offer in Lower Austria.

“In the previous year, more than 80 percent of the communities set up a care offer, 64 percent of them had their own continuous offer, two thirds of them at least six weeks or longer. The fact that 304 Lower Austrian municipalities have offered these offers directly at the school locations shows how important and right the investments in school spaces are," said the Provincial Councilor for Education, Social Affairs and Housing, looking back at the year 2022.

After the state of Lower Austria doubled the funding in terms of even more holiday care in the last three years, it will now be paid out again on a regular basis. In the previous year, there were around 400.000 euros from the state and around one million euros from the federal government, so that a total of 200 schoolchildren in 500 groups at 300 locations were cared for. “Now there are again 250 euros per week and group or 400 euros for integrative groups from the state for the municipalities, so that together with the federal funds around 540 euros can be collected,” said Teschl-Hofmeister.

“99 municipalities, for which 215 leisure time educators work, cooperate directly with NÖ Familienland GmbH. In addition, NÖ Familienland GmbH offers know-how and expertise in the form of guidelines that can be accessed online, free workshops - around 90 have already been booked for the summer - and the digital learning workshop, etc.," the provincial councilor concluded.

Friedrich Ofenauer named the elementary school, which was built in 1951 and last renovated in 2021/2022 and extended in terms of accessibility and afternoon care, with currently 160 children, as an example of the good partnership between the state and the municipalities. “7 children have registered for the need-based holiday care offered from 15 a.m. to 18 p.m. this year. The costs for the parents per child and week are staggered at 55 euros for the first child, 45 euros for the second and 30 euros for the third child, plus a meal contribution of 3,80 euros,” explained the mayor.