Diána Széles, Deputy Mayor of Debrecen, Ágnes Farkas, Head of the Child Protection Institute of the City of Debrecen, and János D. Halász, Demki Public Education Center in Debrecen, held a press conference on this year’s summer childcare and the Knowledge camp for children living in large families.
Deputy Mayor Diána Széles said: Debrecen, as a caring city, pays attention to children of primary school age, whose supervision cannot be solved by their parents during the summer vacation. This year is also special in this respect, as a lot of parents no longer have enough freedom to take care of their seedling in the summer. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the city to be able to provide summer childcare either through paid camps or free of charge. The latter has been organized for years by the Child Protection Institution of the City of Debrecen with the participation of the Debrecen Charitable Board and its member organizations. Parents of more than 200 children have so far applied for this year’s childcare, but they can still apply for the period from June 28 to August 19, which is longer than before – eight weeks instead of six. The organization of summer childcare – together with the costs of salaries, services and programs – is financed by the Municipality of Debrecen with more than HUF 12 million. The Debrecen Charitable Board also contributes to this with the programs it organizes from its own resources.
In addition to the summer childcare, Diánes Széles also mentioned that the idea of the Knowledge camp was born precisely because of the epidemic situation and online education. This camp is open to children from large families affiliated to the Smolenflower Association of Large Families in Debrecen, who thought they would like to make up for any school dropouts due to online education. This initiative took place in the New Garden Community House of the Demki Debrecen Cultural Center and Youth House, and the first day of the one-week tour with 12 children was on June 25th.
The deputy mayor also spoke about the fact that with the help of the Government, the city municipality must also provide free summer children’s meals to those in need since 2016, which in Debrecen is not just a bowl of hot food, but a menu.
In 2020, the city spent more than 20 million forints on this service in addition to state support. This meal is being used less and less by the year, so Diána Széles drew the attention of needy parents to this possibility.
Ágnes Farkas, head of the Child Protection Institution of the City of Debrecen, said that if you now want to register your child for summer childcare, you can do so online on the child protection institution’s website (http://www.gyervi.hu/gyermekfelugyelet.php). you will also find information on this. Summer childcare is only available with three meals a day, which is subject to a charge – except for those entitled to free meals. As part of the summer childcare, countless programs await the children at the Bocskai István Primary School in Debrecen.
János D. Halász, the director of the Demki Debrecen Cultural Center and Youth House, drew attention to the problems that online education can cause in a large family, as there are certainly not as many computers as would be needed at once. Some academic backlogs are thus almost certain. Knowledge Camp offers some solution to this problem. But it is summer, and so that the children do not feel at school even now, the members of the Hungarian Youth Community, as mentors of the Teach for Hungary program, help them in the first half of the camp days. And the second half of the day is like a classic day camp: with games, swimming with a visit to the zoo.
Debrecen city Hall Press
