Whether or not children can attend nursery school if their parents want them to is an important precondition for the improvement of the economic status of many families. When children go to nursery school, their parents can return to the labour market and earn a living for the family. The number and locations of pre-school child care institutions is up to local governments to determine. Although the shortage of nursery school places has been discussed for many years and the situation has improved, the lack of places is still acutely felt, especially in local governments where the number of residents has increased rapidly. However, these local governments are also bigger and wealthier than the others.
Why is finding a solution taking so long? Did these local governments fail to foresee the impact of the increase in population? Did they not know how to react to the situation adequately or did they make a mistake in setting their priorities?
How can we guarantee that before assuming voluntary obligations, our local governments perform the duties that are mandatory for them? This is the question to which the National Audit Office has failed to find an answer, also in previous audits. For example, Tallinn has often put the performance of voluntary duties before the performance of the duties that are mandatory for a local government.
Hopefully, finding an answer to this question will also be given attention during the planning of the administrative reform.

• Posted: 11/9/2015 12:00 AM
• Last Update: 2/2/2016 9:45 AM
• Last Review: 2/2/2016 9:45 AM