The German government has approved a draft law to strengthen early childhood education. Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU) plans to collect data on children’s development by age four at the latest. The goal is to better support disadvantaged children and ease their transition to primary school.
“The Start Opportunities and Quality Development Act is the key educational policy decision of this legislative period,” Prien said. She warned that the gap between children from low and high socio-economic backgrounds opens before school entry and is hard to close. Individual support measures are intended to counter this.
The law stipulates that data on various developmental areas, especially language skills, will be collected for all children by age four. Daycare centers with a high proportion of children facing particular challenges will receive additional staff for language support and social work. The federal government plans to support the states in implementing the law with around 9.25 billion euros by 2034.
Source: Tagesschau
