A number of Brno residents have decided to move to the surrounding villages. They are looking for peace, more space, and rural comfort, but also cheaper and more accessible housing. One of the results of the suburbanization process is the increasing number of young children growing up in the villages around Brno. This, of course, puts pressure on infrastructure and public services, with a consequent shortage of nursery school places. The municipalities in charge of kindergartens are often not sufficiently prepared for the rapid increase in demand for new places. As a result, parents often commute to Brno with their children, contributing to increased traffic congestion and overcrowding in local kindergartens. In many cases, mothers stay on parental leave longer than they would like or have to, waiting for their child to get to kindergarten.
It is therefore essential to seek solutions that balance the needs of parents while minimising the negative impact on individual municipalities and Brno as a whole. That is why we pay special attention to the development of kindergartens throughout the BMO. Our main aim is to increase their capacity, either by building new nurseries or by expanding existing ones where demand for new places is highest. How do we know where the need for nurseries is greatest? Through data on current nursery capacity and population growth, which our team regularly analyses. We know, for example, that in theBrno metropolitan area, we have 364 nurseries and the average number of children attending each of them is 69. However, some municipalities do not have a kindergarten at all or their kindergartens are significantly undersized. Fortunately, we have managed to negotiate the highest financial allocation in the whole of the Czech Republic, which enables us to support the projects and municipalities that need new capacity for pre-school children the most.
In the last programming period 2014–2020, we financed the construction of three kindergartens in Brno: Sýpka, Kamechách and Soběšice. In the current period (2021+), the BMO Steering Committee has supported 23 projects, 19 of them in the municipalities around Brno. In total, the capacity of kindergartens increased by 1023 children. More projects are being prepared together with partners. The construction of new nurseries is a long-distance run, and therefore our efforts do not end only with this period. We know that comprehensive development and analysis of kindergartens are crucial for the quality of life of the inhabitants of the metropolitan area.
In Vobce na Šlapanicko, the pressure to increase the number of places in kindergartens is one of the greatest. During the first call, financing was approved for the construction of three new kindergartens in Viniční Šumice, Střelice and Vranov, as well as the expansion of five existing kindergartens in the area of Sokolnice, Ostopovice, Troubska, Šlapanic and Ochoz near Brno. In Šlapanice, the Hvězdička Kindergarten expanded with three new classes, which was the city’s biggest investment in 2023. The new kindergartens will have a capacity of approximately 330 children, which will be a significant support for parents, who will be able to return to work more quickly.
At the end of the 1930s, the construction of the Bishop’s Gymnasium was started on the top of the Yellow Hill and the history of the Bishopric of Brno as the founder of the school began. Currently, the gymnasium is attended by more than 800 students and since 2015 a kindergarten has been attached to the gymnasium. The Bishopric of Brno has big plans in the field of education and the building on the Yellow Hill is facing a major redevelopment consisting of four interrelated projects to turn the site into a centre for education and educational services. Using the ITI instrument, the kindergarten’s capacity will be increased by 100 percent. Already in the school year 2025/2026 the kindergarten should welcome 40 new children. Another project involves the addition of specialist classrooms for physics, chemistry and computer science for high school students. The penultimate activity involves the construction of new facilities for the Christian Educational and Psychological Counselling Centre. The Bishopric of Brno is also planning to build a new gymnasium.
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