Deputy Development Minister Odysseas Konstantinopoulos on Tuesday announced that the government will grant 200 million euros (an additional 40 million euros compared to the original amount) to cover the needs of 89,000 children (from 68,000 last year) at municipal and private crèches, kindergartens and Creative Activity Centres.

The decision for the additional funds was taken during a meeting with the participation of Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras, Deputy Labour Minister Vassilis Kegeroglou and the president of the Central Union of Municipalities in Greece (KEDE) Kostas Askounis. During the meeting, the officials estimated that the current 160-million-euro budget would keep a significant number of children out of kindergartens.

KEDE believes the increased funding will cover the total number of children’s positions available at municipal and private crèches, kindergartens and Creative Activity Centres.

“I believe this is a strong evidence of social policy for the most vulnerable groups, the unemployed and the working mothers and the result of the cooperation between the Government, the Municipalities and the private sector,” the Deputy minister said.

KEDE welcomed the positive outcome of its efforts to secure additional funds and pointed out that a permanent and stable solution should be found for those social structures that are related to early childhood.

The good cooperation with KEDE and the ministries involved in the issue yielded the anticipated result, which is to cover all the positions that are offered at municipal and private crèches, kindergartens and Creative Activity Centres, the Interior ministry said in a statement.

“After the 40 million euros from national resources that were added to the 160 million euro of the NSRF, the specific program for kindergartens this year will yield even better results compared to last year,” it added.