Polish Party Leaders ‘Put Children First’
31 May 2007
A children’s playground in central Warsaw was the venue chosen for the Leader of Poland’s Democratic Left Alliance SLD to announce a weekend of activities across Poland in support of more and better childcare, and to kick off a debate in Poland on boosting child care.
Child care has declined in Poland since 1990 with many nurseries closed or privatised. According to Polish figures less than 30% of children aged 3-5 had a place in pre-school child care, although there is obligatory pre-school for six year olds. There was a debate about bringing the mandatory school age down to five but this is no longer on the agenda since the right came to power.
Nonetheless many Polish women regret the decline in child care, and families want and need better child care services. The child care places that do exist tend to be concentrated in the cities, leaving rural areas with very little formal provision.
The SLD is looking to employers as well as local and regional government to give child care a boost. The SLD strongly supports child care as an investment in the skills of future generations and as an effective means of early identification of special needs or disabilities.
After speaking to Polish TV and radio stations SLD Leader Wojciech Oleniczak handed out lollypops to children in the playground.
The SLD organized events in no less than 15 Polish cities with a special child care leaflet, lollypops with the PES logo on it, opinion surveys and collecting signatures for the child care book. Events will be taking place in Poznań, Warsaw, Leszno, Jarocin, Lublin, Gdańsk, Płock, Krotoszyn, Chodzież, Stare Miasto, Kalisz, Gostyń, Gniezno, Zielona Góra and Ostrzeszów.
The weekend of action follows a meeting of the SLD national council where Party Leader Wojciech Olejniczak and Marek Siwiec, vice-president of the European Parliament gave their strong backing to the campaign.
Polish campaign "Put Children First" 
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Julian Scola, Press Officer
Party of European Socialists, Rue du Trône, 98, B-1050 Brussels
Mobile +32 486 117 394,
