In Helsinki, we continue to strongly promote equality work at the city level

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In Helsinki, we are already committed in our city strategy to making Helsinki the best and most equitable place to learn. Therefore, we continue to strongly promote equality work at the city level.

In addition, we have developed the Education 2030 program within the sector, which spans multiple council terms as part of our strategy, budget, action plans, and general development.

Its central guideline is: “We want to build a community-oriented, safe, and equitable education that conveys the joy of learning.”

For us Social Democrats, promoting equality is a key issue that we are advancing with our council group.

“The removal of the obligation to promote equality would send a strong message from the Finnish government that equality is not an important value and that not all children and guardians are equally valued,” the Finnish National Agency for Education writes in its statement.

I agree with this. In this time, the equality between all people must be strengthened, especially concerning children.

The abandonment of equality plans is part of the government’s norm-reduction efforts in the municipal sector. However, this is such a central and important issue that it should not be approached this way.

The government’s proposal is contrary to children’s rights. At worst, the forthcoming changes will place children in a position of inequality.

The proposal is also not aligned with the government program, the government’s anti-racism program, and international human rights treaties. Additionally, the savings are marginal.

Creating a daycare’s own plan is an important process because it concretizes equality work for early childhood education personnel.

The equality plan is a working tool in early childhood education that prevents discrimination for various reasons. The plan supports the promotion of equality in the daily life of early childhood education. The educator community must reflect on their own attitudes and how these are reflected in their actions.

When the plan is prepared together through discussion, the themes become visible to the entire team, and commitment to the plan is better achieved when it is done collaboratively.

Dismantling legal norms as a “cost-saving measure” is a completely wrong approach, especially if it leads to the worsening of the situation for disadvantaged individuals, such as children and children from minority groups