Finnish government scraps equality plans

Several organizations are highly critical of the government’s plans to abolish the requirement for separate equality plans for each pre-school, arguing that children’s rights must be protected and that the increasing ‘diversity’ of society should be taken into account in early childhood education.

The Finnish government wants to introduce amendments to the Non-Discrimination Act, which would mean that day-care centers and private preschools would no longer have to develop their own equality plans – instead, the idea is that the equality plans already developed by the municipality would be sufficient.

However, organizations such as the National Agency for Education, the Equality Ombudsman, the Mannerheim Child Welfare Association and several trade union organizations reject the government’s proposal, arguing that the government has failed to justify why it wants to “relax” provisions that are considered important for the protection of children’s rights.

Among other things, they accuse the government of having a poor understanding of “equality work” and of not understanding how the culture of early childhood education works, Yle reports.

Increasing “diversity”

According to the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), the “diversity” of Finnish society is increasing and this should be “objectively recognized already in early childhood education”.

Others support the proposal, including the Local Government and Welfare Employers’ Association KT, which argues that resources would be freed up to work with children and that there is no need for separate equality plans for each preschool.

The estimated annual savings are a modest €44,000, but the government says the aim is also to “dismantle norms”.

The change in legislation is expected to come into force in early 2025. Organizations and other stakeholders have until August 6 to provide feedback on the proposal.