Nursery school bonuses: finally, they're starting. But money is tight, and nurseries are even tighter.

BONUS FOR NURSERY SCHOOLS

The bonus doesn't solve the problem, but it certainly shouldn't be dismissed. On the contrary. After the usual bureaucratic delays, INPS has announced that applications for the €1.000 bonus , to enroll children born after January 1, 2016, in public and private nursery schools, will begin on July 17 and continue until December 31, 2017.

INPS NURSERY CARE BONUS

The bonus is a concrete aid , and not a modest one: therefore, it should be considered a first step towards normalizing the disastrous situation of nursery schools in Italy , where, despite many promises, enrollment remains low, increasingly low. And nursery schools remain few, far too few. Rather, let's pay attention to the overall budget for this bonus. It involves a total expenditure of €144 million for 2017. Once this figure is reached, INPS officials will close registrations for the bonus, and since there are no income limits, it is very likely that the established ceiling will be reached in record time. This also implies the need, which we hope will be accepted and recognized, to increase the funding capacity. In any case, with the bonus implemented, we must now return to the issue of nursery schools. And for everyone.

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REGISTRATION OF CHILDREN IN NURSERY SCHOOLS

There's a lot of talk about equal rights for men and women in the workplace , and then we discover that one in three children in Italy can't find a place in a public nursery . The statistics plummet as the age gets lower: out of over 2 million children between 0 and 3 years old, only 13,5 percent manage to attend a municipal nursery. And this percentage plummets to 2,5 percent in Calabria and 2,8 percent in Campania. In other words: in the South, forget about the existence of this service.

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NURSERY COSTS IN ITALY

On the other hand, the very distribution of municipal nursery schools is unbalanced: 55 percent are in the Northern regions, 27 percent in the Center, and only 18 percent in the South . While the locations and facilities are decreasing, costs are increasing , and today the average family must shell out 309 euros a year for a place in a municipal nursery, an increase of up to 33 percent compared to the previous year, as in the case of the province of Siena.

FAMILY SERVICES IN ITALY

These numbers tell us how Italy has become a country unsuited to raising a family , how poor our essential services are , and how women are penalized when they have to combine work and caring for their children. Consider that in 2000, fifteen years ago, we solemnly committed, at the Council of Europe, to guaranteeing nursery and daycare facilities for at least 90 percent of children between three and six years old and 33 percent of children under three by 2010. A big lie, and one of the many examples of how in Europe we make shallow promises, the ones that are never kept.

HOW TO REALLY HELP MOTHERS: SOME GOOD EXAMPLES:

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• In Austria, it's easier to be a mother: a thousand-euro allowance and up to three years' leave.
• In Scampia, Naples' first diaper library. The idea of ​​a mother, Stefania D'Andrea.
• A mother of 10 shares the secrets of a large family
• Tagesmutter: the mother who also takes care of other people's children