Start of the blue-yellow kindergarten offensive in Perchtoldsdorf

In the recently published monitoring report of the statistics on elementary education 2023/24 by Statistics Austria, the successes of the blue-yellow childcare offensive are also visible in numbers. In terms of attendance rates for children under 3, Lower Austria is 36.3 percent, above the Austrian average of 34.9 percent and for the first time above the Barcelona target of 33 percent. In terms of attendance rates for 3-6 year olds, Lower Austria is also above the Barcelona target of 96 percent and once again leads the federal state ranking with 98.3 percent. If you look at the attendance rates by individual year, Lower Austria leads the federal state comparison with the highest childcare rates in the categories of 2- (78.7 percent), 3- (97.2 percent) and 4-year olds (99.0 percent). “These figures underline the efforts of the state of Lower Austria and the municipalities to further expand the network of childcare offerings throughout the state.” “Thank you to the municipality of Perchtoldsdorf for being a strong partner of the state of Lower Austria and for actively supporting the expansion of childcare for our families,” said State Councilor for Families Christiane Teschl-Hofmeister. 250 new groups started operating across the state at the start of the week, and a total of around 615 groups are planned by 2027.

The Lower Austrian state kindergartens in Perchtoldsdorf currently have more than 500 kindergarten places. “For the market town, the possibility of accepting two-year-olds means the construction of four additional new kindergarten groups in the Aspetten kindergarten with around 60 places,” said Mayor Andrea Kö at the groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, who also emphasized: “We will be adding these due to the large influx of families. Children in this age group also need them.” A generous project plan has been drawn up for the construction of the new group rooms: the shell is to be completed by December, interior work will start in January 2025, and the planned occupancy is in August 2025. “With the more than 560 square meters of new group rooms, which are being built according to ecological principles, an environment will be created that is precisely tailored to the needs of children from the age of two,” said kindergarten consultant Daniela Rambossek about the project, which is budgeted at 2.5 million euros and is being funded by the state of Lower Austria. For the “blue-yellow childcare offensive”, the state of Lower Austria and its municipalities are investing a total of 750 million euros in additional funding for the expansion of childcare by 2027.

Further information: Office of LR Teschl-Hofmeister, Mag. (FH) Dieter Kraus, Press Officer, Telephone 02742/9005-12655, E-Mail [email protected]