There are more than 880 education and care facilities and mini-crèches on the educational scene in Luxembourg, with 360 parental assistants, which provide education and care places for more than 68,000 children aged 0 to 12 (as of 31 March 2024).
These facilities are educational environments, in the same way as school and family, that apply non-formal educational principles to promote children's well-being and to encourage them to flourish. They help to provide all children with the same chances from the beginning and the same opportunities to succeed, regardless of their background and origin.
"Staark Kanner": quality non-formal education for strong children
The importance of non-formal education in educational policy was acknowledged in 2013 when a large Ministry of Education, Children and Youth was created. In addition, education and childcare facilities have had a public service remit since 2016, with the aim of integrating children into life in their municipality and preparing them for Luxembourgish society and its schools.
The ministry is pursuing the Staark Kanner initiative, which combines a series of measures in support of children and their families:
- a care system with high educational quality in all education and childcare facilities;
- the definition, on a national level, of an educational child development programme and the implementation of a national reference framework;
- state contribution to childcare costs, via the childcare voucher scheme known as chèque-service accueil (CSA);
- a programme for multilingual education including 20 hours of free childcare for children aged 1 to 4 who are looked after in education and childcare facilities or in mini-crèches;
- partly free childcare and main meals for school children;
- help with homework for school children.
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