In Basilicata there are few early childhood services and the numbers are insufficient. One of the few regions not to provide any direct contribution to families
The report of the Women’s Coordination of the CGIL Basilicata, created by the Ires Cgil study center, on childcare services in Basilicata. The regional secretaries Giuliana Scarano and Anna Russelli and the scientific director of Ires Cgil Basilicata Riccardo Achilli spoke in videoconference. Here is the full text of the report.
As of 2021, as emerges from Istat data, Basilicata has a coverage of educational services for early childhood (seen as a whole, i.e. nurseries, micro-nurseries, supplementary services, spring sections, etc.) equal to 24.4% of the total number of Municipalities, with a take charge indicator of 8.9%. Both of these data are largely insufficient compared to the national data (respectively, equal to 59.6% and 15.2%), and, with reference to the share of municipalities covered, also lower than the southern average (respectively, 51.7% and 7%). But we are also very far from the Barcelona objective of twenty years ago, which wanted a percentage of children served of at least 33% in the Member States.
The positions covered by publicly owned services constitute 51% of the total, compared to 49% nationally. The propulsive role of the public body is therefore fundamental compared to a relative lack of private supply, but the average public expenditure per user destined for nurseries and spring section is equal to only 3,755 euros, compared to 9,952 at national level and 8,607 in the South Basilicata is also one of the few regions that does not provide any direct contribution to families, not even in the form of vouchers. This intervention is worth, at a national level, approximately 2,000 euros per user (even 3,558 euros per user in the Southern regions). According to Istat, Basilicata is the fourth to last Italian region in terms of municipal expenditure per capita and in terms of the value of the INPS contribution.
Spending on childcare services by region, year 2021 Source: Istat – We therefore have, in Basilicata, a childcare service: Leopard-like, which leaves entire areas of the region empty.
With a largely insufficient availability of places: According to the latest ISTAT data relating to the 2021-2022 educational year, processed by the CGIL, in Basilicata there are 2,433 places available in nursery schools for 10,469 children from 0 to 2 years old, the 22.9%, while the places available in supplementary services for early childhood (nurseries, micro nurseries or spring sections, play spaces, parent child centers, educational services in a home context), public or private, are only 83, 0 ,8%. Mostly publicly led, but severely underfunded. It is estimated that Lucanian families spend 24.4% of the total cost of services, the second highest figure in Italy after Molise. Basilicata is unable to have decent take-in rates, albeit slightly better than other regions of the South.
A region centered on traditional nests. Nursery schools and spring sections have 944 users registered in 2021, while the other integrative services, which are cheaper and therefore scalable to the scale of the small municipalities in the region (play spaces, parent-child spaces, family educational services) do not appear to have any user registered for 2021, while on a national basis they offer around 8,500 places, which partially compensate for the lack of supply of nurseries and spring sections.
This situation is reflected in three specific areas. First of all, the lower learning ability of fundamental subjects and greater educational delays. Scientific literature indicates that the first 1000 days of a child’s life are the most crucial for his optimal growth, intellectually and in terms of absorption of skills. As can be seen from the graph below, the share of students with inadequacies in literacy, numeracy and English is higher in Basilicata than in the rest of the country.
Then the percentage of lower secondary school students with basic inadequacies. Basilicata and children’s services with inadequate percentages of literacy and numbers and in English.
Delays in terms of equal opportunities at work linked to the care of children, i.e. the absence or insufficient territorial diffusion of services dedicated to children. The female employment rate in Basilicata, equal to 39.9%, is very far from that of men (66.2%). The inactivity rate, which often hides situations of involuntary inactivity due to domestic and caregiving workloads, is 50% for women and 41.5% for men. At the same time, women who work part time (often to balance home and work), with lower wages and fewer career opportunities, are 27% of female workers, compared to 9.1% for males. The correlation between female employment and the availability of childcare services is summarized in the graph below. Basilicata is fourth to last among the Italian regions both in terms of supply of places for children aged 0-2 years and in terms of female employment rate.
Correlation between places available for childcare services and female employment rate in the regions, year 2021 – The continuous worsening of the region’s demographic profile is being paid. Basilicata is already an elderly region. The Lucanian old age index is 114% of the national one, the average age, equal to 47 years, is higher than both the southern one (45.5 years) and the national one (46.4 years). The decline in birth rates induced by the lack of childcare services will only accentuate this profile. The birth rate (births per thousand inhabitants), in fact, is in sharp decline, and in 2022 it will fall to 6 per thousand, 89.7% of the Italian average, in contrast with the South, which instead has a propensity for higher birth rates. better than in the Center and North.
Birth rate 2018-2022 goes from 6,000 to 6,200, to 6,400, to 6,600, to 6,800, to 7,000, to 7,200, to 7,400, 7,600 7,800.
Basilicata SOUTHERN ITALY – In the face of all this, in the PNRR the theme of childhood has been placed as a priority with the allocation of 4.6 billion euros to the Plan to strengthen the offer in Italy of nursery schools, nursery schools and educational services: a precious opportunity to strengthen the network of services, to reduce the costs borne by families and guarantee girls and boys a quality offer spread throughout the area.
However, in the Government document with the Proposals for the remodulation of the PNRR interventions, the uncertainty regarding the achievement of the objectives within the deadlines appeared clear since then and now, unfortunately, it is confirmed in the European Commission’s decision to modify the PNRR which takes the form of strong reduction in the objective which goes from 264 thousand new places in nursery schools, nursery schools and early childhood education and care services to 150 thousand places with a very significant cut in the offer to be activated. Furthermore, the timeline for completing the investments and activating the new positions, initially scheduled for the end of 2025, is also extended by a further 6 months.
Within this framework, comes the joint Mise/Mims Decree for the assessment and reassignment of the overall savings deriving from waivers, definancing and non-assignments, relating to Mission 4 – Education and Research, which defines a new plan for the creation of nursery schools and early childhood education and care services.
This Plan, for Basilicata, creates approximately 780 new places, compared to an estimated need of just under 8,000 places. That is, it is a Plan that is 10 times lower than what would be needed to cover the entire population between 0 and 2 years currently discovered, and also lower than the Barcelona objective of 33% coverage, which would require 1,000 more places about.
The Plan seems to focus mainly on areas such as the Vulture Melfese, the hinterland of the regional capital city, the Marmo Platano, the Lauria-Lagonegro area and the Matera hill, while other severely uncovered areas, such as the Serrapotamo, the Val d ‘Agri or the innermost Matera appear more neglected, thus worsening the existing territorial disparities.
Even if the Plan provides that the smallest and most disadvantaged Municipalities in terms of users can join by applying for the funds, this possibility is subject to the constraint of having to present themselves in association with other Municipalities with the same disadvantaged conditions. It is therefore clear that by creating associations between municipalities without services, rather than with lead municipalities capable of creating strong service hubs for the benefit of the entire association, only further weaknesses are generated which combine with each other. The solution adopted, therefore, does not appear capable of generating significant leverage effects.
It is therefore clear that Basilicata is missing yet another opportunity to equip itself with a service capable of meeting the challenges that await it. What the CGIL is asking for is: «A national public financial commitment equal to at least double the resources of the Valditara Plan. We need to generate at least 70,000 more places, of which another 7,000 at least in Basilicata. At the parametric cost of 24,000 euros for each new place created, it is necessary to generate a further 1.7 billion in resources, of which 168 million for Basilicata alone, to reach the new Barcelona objective of 45% of children aged 0-2 years served.
It is necessary to provide for the management cost of the places created, which also includes the new educators to be hired, the costs of the canteen service, transport, etc., budgeting a further 2 billion for management alone. It is necessary to directly help less economically well-off families by providing vouchers for the choice of the service to which their children should be sent, with particular priority for single-income families with low ISEE and finally, it is necessary to encourage supplementary and complementary services (e.g. family nannies, educational services domestic) in the very small municipalities of our region where the provision of a fixed structure is uneconomical and where the costs and times of transport to a structure in another neighboring municipality are prohibitive due to orographic and infrastructural conditions”.
