The president of the Community of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, announced yesterday important discounts in nursery schools, a measure that will have been a relief for the pockets of many large families with children aged 0 to 3 who go to a public nursery school.
From this month of January, large families of general category (3 or 4 children) will benefit from a 50% discount on the tuition fee, while special large families (5 children or more) will have the total free and extended hours.
Of course, large families look forward to these reductions because the schooling costs of children account for a large part of the family budget.
They have also seen the need for extended hours for children whose parents work many hours away from home and the creation of more nursery schools for children aged 0 to 3 years because the demand "requires it."
Without wishing to be ungrateful, since we are a large family and if my youngest daughter goes to nursery school someday (if we get a place) we will benefit from this measure, I expose my "buts".
From my humble posture I believe that the focus is being placed where it shouldn't be and that there are no alternatives offered to families. In the long run, creating more nursery schools, extending schedules and reducing schooling costs is no solution.
It would be better than those approximately 1.3 million euros per year that are allocated to the reduction of childcare fees plus what is invested in building and equipping new schools is used so that parents who wish so could stay at home in care of their children. What do you think?
