November 18, 2020 – The Partnership Center for Development, member of the Economic Council, wants to address the issue with the associative business sector.

According to Alina Andronache, representative of the Partnership for Development Center, the opening of children’s centers inside the companies would encourage women to return to work until the expiration of maternity leave.

And the problem only intensified and worsened during the pandemic period. The companies found themselves in a situation where they simply did not have anyone to work with. Employees prefer to be technically unemployed so as not to leave their children alone at home during this period.

Since 2014, the Development Partnership Center has been researching the situation, including from an international practice perspective, and has come up with several proposals that would allow companies to set up early education centers for employees’ children. Namely, the creation of a special regime through which to allow the establishment of a service or center with a partial program of activity; founding a new legal entity; granting nursery vouchers and establishing public-private partnership in the field of educational services.

The Partnership Center for Development intends to discuss these options on the platform of the Economic Council in the context of the proposal of the Secretariat of the Economic Council to identify and implement optimal solutions to support employees with children in the closure of kindergartens and schools.

This proposal is part of the Policy Matrix developed by the experts of the Secretariat of the Economic Council in the COVID-19 Pandemic Impact Study on economic sectors. Among other things, it is proposed to create a regulatory framework, including by providing fiscal facilities to businesses in the creation of preschool educational service centers. It is also proposed to cover expenses in this regard, which would allow parents to remain active in the labor market.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund.