Equal schools sound the alarm. Without concrete aid from the state, the activity will not continue with the beginning of next year. There is very little time to intervene in the light of bills that have now become unsustainable. The FISM schools are experiencing a dramatic situation, over nine thousand nursery schools and private nurseries that guarantee a fundamental service for families where the State does not come with public structures. In the Belluno area, in many municipalities childcare services are covered only by the FISM, for example.
The cry of alarm comes from the national IMF after the conversion into law of the Sostegni bis decree, for which the Federation had proposed an amendment without being heard. But the situation is the same throughout Italy, including Belluno. “We are very worried,” says the provincial president Stefano Triches. “The smaller structures are at high risk of closure, even in our area”.
Some equal kindergartens have already increased the rates in the capital, as we told a few days ago. Twenty euros a month more for families, to try to cover the rising bill prices. But it will not be enough and by now everyone is absolutely aware of it.
“In January, the risk of closure is concrete,” denounces the national president of the IMF, Giampiero Redaelli, on the eve of the council of ministers scheduled for today.
The peer-to-peer preschools have reopened their doors in recent days, but for the majority of the structures and nurseries in the peer galaxy, closure could come within a few months.
“It is not a threat, but it is a real possibility if the government continues to ignore the request for help from the nine thousand educational realities associated with FISM, the Italian Federation of Kindergartens, attended in our country by about five hundred thousand children aged from zero to six years”.
“We had proposed a specific amendment in view of the conversion of the bis support decree into law, but we were unheard”, continues Radaelli. “Now schools no longer intend to burden families, which would be affected by the inevitable increase in costs related to the rise in energy bills and the increases caused by inflation.” The national president is amazed that the measures offered to companies are not granted to equal schools.
“If, as required by the Constitution and by Law 62/2000, the national school system is based on equal and state schools, the State cannot ignore the presence of these schools, in particular those which, by carrying out a public service, guarantee schooling more than 30% of children aged 3 to 6 », he adds.
Throughout Italy in these hours the thousands of FISM schools have been urged to promote and activate initiatives to draw attention to the concrete risk of closure.
Many, from North to South, have already declared themselves ready to give a strong signal for the first time that could block the services that have just started again. And at that point the families would find themselves without a fundamental service.