Last week, the Dutch government took a significant step towards introducing multilingual childcare options for families in the Netherlands, opening an online portal where members of the public can put forward their own opinions and suggestions for the bill.
Over the past several years, various childcare providers in the Netherlands have taken part in trials, offering childcare services in a combination of languages. The success of these trials means the cabinet is looking to legally regulate the availability and quality of multilingual childcare.
Last week, the cabinet launched a bill which states that childcare providers are able to offer services in either German, English or French for up to 50 percent of the daily care time. The idea is that multilingual childcare allows for children to become proficient in several languages at an early age, and facilitates the transition to multilingual primary education.
Before the bill can come into force - which the cabinet hopes will happen on January 1, 2024 - the government has opened an online consultation forum (in Dutch), where members of the public can respond to the conditions and legislation of the bill and submit their own ideas and feedback. The consultation period will be open until the end of January 2023.
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