More than 80 children are without a place in free daycare centers, warned the Association of Daycare Centers and Small Private Education Establishments (ACPEEP), requesting the creation of more places in the medium term.
In a statement, ACPEEP explains that more vacancies are needed for the approximately 130.000 children who were born after September 01, 2021.
«In February 2023, only 25.383 children were still covered by the gratuity, according to official data from the Social Security Institute», emphasizes the association.
In total, there are around 250 children aged between five months and three years old to attend day care, says ACPEEP, noting that "many families are desperate for answers".
«The proposed solution involves streamlining pending licensing processes for new constructions or expansions of nursery rooms, which have been dragging on for some years now (...) and simplifying the conversion processes of unused empty rooms», he indicates.
For the association, this is the solution «with less financial costs» for the State.
«In the short and medium term, it would allow us to significantly increase the number of vacancies in daycare for more families who are waiting and, in many cases, desperate for a vacancy», he stresses.
Awaiting a response from the Government and considering Social Security "a very heavy machine", ACPEEP underlines the "great availability" of the Secretary of State for Inclusion, Ana Sofia Antunes, for dialogue and to find "the best solutions in resolving the countless obstacles (…) in this process».
«Although this lack already existed before, it has become much more accentuated with the greater mobility of families, especially for professional reasons, with the arrival of more emigrants to our country (...), with a slight increase in the birth rate in the last year and still with a growing number of single-parent families and families without a supportive family», he adds.
The Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) registered, at the end of last year, 757.252 foreigners residing in Portugal, 8,3% more than in 2021.
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