Church nursery Norway exempted from strict Kindergarten Act

Norwegian children can attend kindergartens which function as a nursery when their parents are at school or work. Some congregations of the Church of Norway have their own nurseries.

However, since January 1, Norwegian kindergartens have had to meet much stricter requirements than before. For example, they must be registered as individual legal subjects and set up their own joint stock companies, Vart Land reports.

At the time the proposal was accepted by the Storting, people immediately said this demand was unreasonable for Ecclesiastical nurseries. An unintended consequence of the new regulation was, for example, that the kindergartens could not borrow money as they were not registered under a parish anymore. And only parishes could lend money from the bank, Vart Land wrote earlier.

In short, the new legislation created much insecurity for church kindergartens, of which several even feared closure.

Now, Education Minister Tonje Brenna backtracks a little. “I see that the transition to separate legal entities will be difficult for these kindergartens and would propose an exception to the requirement for separate legal entities for kindergartens owned by parishes in the Church of Norway”, she said to Vart Land.

However, to create that exception, the Act itself must be changed. That will require a hearing and a bill that must pass through the Storting, Brenna acknowledged. She promised that the law would be changed as soon as possible.