Flanders may help ease Tervuren’s childcare woes in 2025. The new Flemish government is promising an additional 10,000 creche places. How many of these sorely needed extra places will trickle down to Tervuren remains unclear.
The newly formed Flemish government—a coalition of Flemish nationalists, socialists, and Catholics—has announced plans to add 10,000 creche places starting.
Tervuren’s childcare issues even sparked a debate within the town council, following repeated staff shortages at the nursery De Tovereik. Parents once again received an ominous letter informing them that their children could not attend the nursery several days a week. The former childcare alderwoman stated in October that Tervuren had no ready-made solution to address the staff shortages.
Tervuren is not the only place facing a childcare crisis. Flemish agency Opgroeien lists Tervuren creches as offering around 290 places for 600 babies and toddlers. That covers only 47.61% of the demand. This is worse than Leuven’s 77% coverage and Overijse’s 52%, but Tervuren fares better than Wezembeek-Oppem’s paltry 16.24%.
Staff shortages create major headaches for parents juggling alternative childcare solutions. “They have been told that the crèche cannot accommodate all children due to staffing problems and that they are therefore introducing a rota system,” said councillor Geoffroy De Visscher.
Tervuren’s creches play an important role in preparing the town’s youngest for Dutch-speaking schools from the age of three. Latest statistics indicate that 949, or 48.1%, of Tervuren’s pre-school and primary children speak a language other than Dutch at home. This is up from 34% just ten years ago.
Author: Dafydd ab Iago. © Article licensed for Tervuren+ under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International. Photo by Robbie Sproule. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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