Not even the word free moved the mayors of Taranto, Latina, Treviso, Giugliano to build the nursery schools that are missing in their cities, despite the fact that they were in the top places in the ranking of needs (and funding) developed by the Ministry of ‘Education and Merit. The money was not lost, because it was requested by smaller yet more reactive centres. However, the question remains of how to truly guarantee the nursery service anywhere in the national territory.
The numbers
In any case, the path chosen by the ministry for the new nursery school plan allows for significant progress to be made. They were available 734.9 million partly national funds and partly recovered from the Pnrr. Sums capable of financing structures for over 31 thousand additional places. This time it wasn’t a competition in which whoever offers the most wins, like the first Pnrr tender three years ago, with the sensational case of Milan which bypassed Venafro because it put a thousand times more on the table than the Molise municipality. Nor is it a large-scale competition in which everyone can aspire to get something. In fact, the Municipalities were directly identified based on actual needs.
In Campania, the region with the worst service in Italy, 158 million euros were available for 93 municipalities and a total of 6,588 places. But one mayor in three dropped the invitation (the deadline was May 31st) so given that the incoming municipalities are smaller, in the end 140 requests were satisfied. The capital municipalities in the lead did well Naples which with six projects will create a total of 317 places, grossing 7.2 million euros. Request arrived regularly from Avellino, Benevento And Caserta While Salerno did not have funds available because it was already equipped with an adequate service compared to the standard of 33 places per 100 children aged 3-36 months. Among the populous centers, an excellent response came from Melito, which will create 115 places against the 96 indicated by Miur while respecting the budget of 2.3 million. They have submitted plans for over a hundred new places too Aversa And Pozzuoli.
Of the thirty-six Campania municipalities that had funds available for at least 80 new places, twenty-one took up the offer and fifteen let the deadline pass: more than one in three. Giugliano it is the most sensational case in Italy because it had resources available for 252 places, financed with over 6 million euros. In second place Taranto with 216 seats, therefore Latin with 180 e Bitonto in the province of Bari with 126. In Campania they stand out for their size with over one hundred places left unopted Herculaneum, Greek’s tower, Acerra, Afragola And Marano. In short, there is a problem with the homogeneity of the service which covers vast areas in the metropolitan city of Naples. In the North the most sensational case is a Trevisowith funds for 108 positions for which the ministry has not received any requests.
The commissioners
There aren’t many excuses for defaulters. The ministry led by Giuseppe Valditara had made a team of planners available to the municipalities to cover any staff shortages; furthermore, to pay the out-of-pocket costs of nursery schools, from 2022 a special fund has been activated for municipalities with a lack of service which, when fully operational, will be worth an additional 1.1 billion per year; finally, the procedure has started to put the municipalities that did not use the extra funds received for nursery schools and disabled transport in 2022: among the large cities, Naples, Catania, Messina, Catanzaro, Treviso and Andria will be put under commissioners. In Campania the commissionership will concern half of the municipalities, including Avellino, Torre del Greco, Pozzuoli, Acerra, Marano, Cava de’ Tirreni.
The minister, however, says he is fully satisfied: «We have implemented a highly innovative procedure, which has allowed us to directly identify the municipalities that are below the average of 33% coverage of the nursery school service». The Plan financed 838 interventions compared to the 401 budgeted precisely due to the lack of support in places where there is a particular shortage. Overall, the South was not damaged, where 64.7% of the resources will go.
