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The state budget for next year will be presented in little more than a week, but everything now announces the Minister of Education and Integration and the incoming liberal leader, Guri Melby, one of the new initiatives.
The government puts NOK 157.7 million on the table for the School Leisure Plan (SFO) for children from low-income families.
– The OFS and Aks have become an important integration scenario. For many children, this is where they meet their friends after school and participate in leisure activities. Not being able to go to SFO because their parents cannot afford it can be a great loss for the particular child, says Melby, who states:
– It is important to ensure that everyone has the opportunity. Even if it’s an optional offer, it shouldn’t be your income that determines whether or not you use it.
Expand the schema
The After School Program (SFO) or Aktivitetsskolen (Aks), as the offer in Oslo is called, became cheaper for many parents starting this fall when the government introduced a roof. The parental payment will now amount to a maximum of 6 percent of a household’s total income per child in Stage 1 and Stage 1. Starting next year, several steps will be included:
– We have taken care to ensure that all children can go to SFO or Aks, regardless of parental income. We started last year with a first- and second-tier scheme, where those with the lowest incomes don’t have to pay full price, says Guri Melby. At the same time, the free SFO was introduced for students in grades 5-7. steps with special needs.
– Now we are expanding it to apply to the third and fourth steps as well, so that all children from first to fourth stages with low-income parents do not have to pay full price with SFO and Aks, says Melby.
– More for the money
According to the Minister of Education and Research, this should be a minimum insurance for lower-income families. This will mean that municipalities that prioritize their own funds for better moderation schemes will have a better financial room for maneuver. The municipality of Oslo is among them. Here, the city council has introduced, among other things, a free offer for all first classes.
It should be easier to get a free kindergarten
Education Minister Melby says the government will give priority to those who need it most.
– We have been concerned that we should be goal-oriented in our policy. We have prioritized free basic time in kindergarten for those with the lowest incomes. And now we do the same at SFO prioritizing lower prices for those with the lowest incomes. Making a free-for-all arrangement has a very high cost. We believe we achieve greater social equality using money the way we do now in the state budget, he says.
157 million crowns for cheaper SFO
In the state budget for 2021, the government proposes several measures to reduce the payment of parents in the OFS for students from low-income families:
- NOK 25 million to extend the plan with payment of income qualifying parents in OFS in public schools to 3-4. He passed
- NOK 3 million to establish a new subsidy scheme for the reduced payment of parents from 1 to 4 steps in the OFS in independent schools
- NOK 15.2 million for free SFO for low-income families in selected municipalities
- NOK 114.5 million to cover the year-round effect of the national plan with parental income-based payment for pupils in grades 1-2. steps and free SFO for students with special needs on 5.-7. He passed.
Source: Ministry of Education.
Try free schemes
In addition to reducing the salary of parents, the government is restarting the trials that had previously been conducted with free SFO for low-income families. This applies to the municipalities of Drammen, Stavanger, Trondheim and Oslo, but other municipalities with problems of living conditions can also be applied.
