The end is sealed

The district will soon be without an after-school care center

The after-school care center housed in the Pernau elementary school will close this summer

(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

In Pernau, the childcare facility housed in the elementary school will close in the summer. Bitter: it is not due to a lack of money or staff. The school will need the rooms itself in future. A search for a replacement location for the after-school care center has been going on for almost two years without success. 

Over and out! From the coming school year, there will no longer be an after-school care center in the Pernau district of Wels. It is currently still housed in the elementary school. From the fall, the school will need the premises itself. "We have been feverishly searching for a replacement for more than a year and a half, but have been unable to find anything. Even though I'm not at all happy about it, we have to close the after-school care center. Both the staff and the financial resources would be available," says Klaus Schinninger, the SP city deputy responsible for childcare, regretting the closure.

All-day care is no substitute for after-school care. The opening hours are much more flexible.

Miriam Faber, Fraktionschefin der Grünen

The FP rejected his idea of integrating the after-school care center into the nearby kindergarten. The blue city leader Andreas Rabl explains: "We had to choose between a crèche and an after-school care center. As we assumed that the after-school care center would have space in the school, we made this decision. We couldn't have known that the very generously built school wouldn't have space after all."

All-day school as a replacement
Both Rabl and Schinninger emphasize that all-day care is now being offered at the school as a replacement for the after-school care. "This can never be a fully-fledged substitute for after-school care," criticizes Green Party local councillor Miriam Faber. "The opening hours of an after-school care center are much more flexible, with an early morning service, for example. The educational quality is also often rated much higher."

Demand for a new building
She urges the search for a new location and a new after-school care center to continue: "There is definitely a need, especially because of the planned residential projects, which will significantly increase demand."