BERLIN, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The expansion of all-day care for primary school children in Germany would be self-financing "to a large extent," according to a study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) published on Monday.
From 2025 onwards, all primary school children in Germany will be entitled to full-day care on five days a week, for eight hours a day. Child care should be provided during school holidays, but the facilities could be closed for a maximum of four weeks per year.
According to the study, conducted on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs (BMFSFJ), an expanded all-day childcare system would yield economic benefits worth around two billion euros (2.2 billion U.S. dollars) and thus match the financial aid which the German government plans to provide to the federal states to implement the new regulations.
The economic benefits would be "another good argument for working intensively on expanding all-day care," said Germany's Federal Minister for Family Affairs Franziska Giffey.
The cost of the expansion, including new buildings and staff wages at the approximately 15,000 primary schools in Germany, was estimated by the German Youth Institute (DJI) at five to seven billion euros, not including annual operating costs of 4.5 billion euros.
The study found that the employment rate of German mothers would grow by two to six percentage points, increasing incomes and making families less dependent on social transfers.
"The expansion enables women to be employed or to increase their working hours," said Katharina Spiess, head of the Department of Education and Family at DIW, adding that the expansion of care services is "self-financing to a considerable extent." Enditem
