Imagine your child is one year old and you have to go back to work. A nursery costs over a thousand francs per month in Zurich. Those who cannot afford it stay at home. Your child then does not have the same opportunities as the neighbor's child, just because the parents' accounts are filled differently.
Even those without children pay the price. When well-educated parents reduce their workload because care is lacking or too expensive, the canton loses tax revenue and the economy loses skilled workers. A public preschool increases mothers' workforce participation and thus partially finances itself.
Parents who seek a nursery early because early development is important pay the full price themselves, while kindergarten is free from age four. Those who take care early are financially penalized rather than supported.
Education is, according to Article 62 of the Federal Constitution, within the competence of the cantons; the cantonal council can close this gap. This petition is based on a public debate on the Plural platform with over 100 participants. The petition calls on the cantonal council of the canton of Zurich to introduce a public, voluntary preschool from the first year of life.
Introduction: Public preschool from age one. The canton of Zurich is introducing a state‑funded and organized preschool for children from the first year of life, following the model of the existing kindergarten. Participation remains voluntary, and parents decide for themselves whether to use the offer.
Linking: Preschool pedagogically to kindergarten. The preschool is not established as an independent care facility, but is directly linked content-wise and pedagogically to the existing kindergarten. Transitions are designed so that children can switch from one offering to the other without interruption.
Coordinate: Organization at the cantonal level via EDK. The preschool is organized similarly to kindergarten and is managed through the cantonal education and youth departments. The EDK coordinates implementation between the cantons, while operational responsibility remains with the municipalities.
Ensuring: Binding quality and free learning materials. The canton establishes binding quality standards for all preschools and monitors their compliance in a manner analogous to the supervision of public kindergartens. Learning materials are provided free of charge so that all children, regardless of their background and the parents’ income, have the same opportunities.
Take over: Financing by the public sector. The preschool is fully or predominantly funded by public money, similar to the financing of primary school. Two options are under discussion: full funding through municipal taxes as in kindergartens, or a distribution of costs among municipalities, cantons, the federal government, as well as employers and parents.