A slap in the face to parents: Five times less compensation was blessed

“It was seen that although the members of the committees did not have strong arguments, they had already formed their final opinion. And what the vote will be as it was, it was to be expected.

But they really wanted to be heard, regardless. And to spread that sign of disagreement as widely as possible”, – LNK told the news Vilnius district municipalities mother Jurga Ralytė, who attended the meeting.

According to her, all families living in the Vilnius district, whose children are in public kindergartens, “are left behind”.

“Families are left alone to struggle with high kindergarten fees. Although the right to kindergarten must be ensured equally for all families”, said J. Ralytė.

Another mother, Asta Mateikienė, who lives in Avižienii, told LNK that her son will turn two in October.

“And as I already said during the meeting, there are 41 kindergartens in Avižieniei precinct, 21 kindergartens in Riešės, and 31 in Bukiškis. No kindergarten this year. It remains private, the child is currently attending a private kindergarten, I have already returned to work. For a very modest sum of 500 euros,” she said.

Vilnius District Mayor R. Duchnevičius told LNK that the upcoming elections also have an impact.

“It must be emphasized that it was a political consensus. That consensus exists in the cooperation agreement. This is one of the measures that solves the problematic situation. It is not a solution.

We want to equalize with the city, which otherwise attracts our residents simply. And we understand that from the personal income tax we would receive significantly more revenue than we would spend on those expenses. But, unfortunately, hunting for political points before the upcoming elections next year has probably become the peak, because the politicians have changed differently than what was agreed,” R. Duchnevičius presented his assessment of the situation.

He promised that he has planned certain actions that he promises to take.

On Monday, the Vilnius District Municipality approved the proposal to allocate five times less monthly compensation than previously proposed for private kindergartens, when the declared place of residence of the child and one of the parents or guardians is in the territory of the Vilnius District. Monthly payments of 25 euros will be given to families.

18 council members approved the proposal, 11 voted against it.

Such a proposal was submitted to the district council by Renata Sobieska, a representative of the Lithuanian Polish Election Action-Union of Christian Families (LLRA-KŠS).

“The municipality’s priority should be the development of its own kindergartens (…) so that all residents can use them, regardless of their social and financial situation. And regardless of national affiliation”, said R. Sobieska at the meeting.

Another LLRA-KŠS representative, Teresa Demeško, called on the council to support the party’s proposal.

“This will be an investment in the future and some kind of opportunity to influence the upbringing of our little ones, so that some Christian values ​​are fostered, not genderist values,” T. Demeška said.

Previously, the mayor of the district, Robert Duchnevič, proposed to give families living in the Vilnius district a compensation of 120 euros for private kindergartens. When considering the project, he called on the council to return to the original proposal.

“Regarding the size of the amount – (…) we want it to be competitive with the capital, to which our residents relocate, not finding a place here. That’s why she was like that. This is my proposal to return to the original project,” said the mayor.

Daniel Ilkevič, a member of the “Laisvės” party, also expressed his support for the mayor’s proposal at the council meeting, calling to return to the original version of the proposal.

“I propose a compromise option – to return at the acceptance stage to the option that we all agreed on and thus solve this problem and improve the situation for both the municipality and the parents,” said the “libertarian”.

Artūras Želnys, elected to the municipality on the list of the Center Right, noted that 25 euros is not a significant compensation.

“This is a mockery of children (…) 25 euros is a mockery these days,” he said.

For his part, another member of the LLRA-KŠS, Waldemar Urban, pointed out that any compensation is already higher than at present.

“It is strange to hear that we are reducing something – any decision is in the direction of increase, because now the municipality is compensating for zero. Any amount will be higher than now,” said W. Urban.

ELTA reminds that the Vilnius District Municipal Council approved the proposal to compensate the attendance of preschool and pre-school age children in private kindergartens after submission in August.

It was decided that the monthly compensation for the child would amount to 120 euros.

Mayor R. Duchnevič said that such a decision creates conditions for increasing the availability of children’s education in kindergartens. In addition, he said at that time, there are many cases when parents who actually live in the district have to declare their place of residence in the city of Vilnius in order to have a place for their children in kindergarten.

“Because of this, we, as a municipality, are losing a lot of income, which we could direct to various necessary investments,” said R. Duchnevič.

See the full LNK report here: