The nation's largest circulation daily newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday headlines plans to reorganize pre-school education in the capital. According to the paper, pre-school classes will be eliminated from 24 daycare centres in Helsinki by next autumn. The move will mainly affect smaller daycare centres.
For some small children, this will mean a transfer for at least one year to a new daycare before coming of school age.
The plan is aimed at bringing more children of the same age together and creating daycare centres specialized in pre-school education programmes.
A number of papers, including Mikkeli's Länsi Savo carried a Finnish News Agency (STT) article about poor working conditions at a factory in Thailand that is a subcontractor for two prestigious Finnish glass design products companies, Marimekko and Fiskars Iittala.
Based on research by the Finnwatch monitoring group, the report says that workers in the plant were found to not have enough protective equipment, working conditions were extremely hot, and workers were not given sufficient break time.
Fiskars had given notice of work-safety problems to plant management, but without effect. Marimekko commissioned an official inspection, which it failed.
Private funding for children's hospital?
The business and economic publication Taloussanomat raises the question of why sufficient funding is not being made available for a new children's hospital in Helsinki and that the shortfall is being made up through a private fund drive.
The paper points out that by law, the state and municipalities are obligated to provide a sufficient level of services and that child hospital care qualifies as one such service. Looking for the reason that private funding is being sought, Taloussanomat quotes Aalto University Professor Paul Lillrank to the effect that public officials can do this for the specific reason that it is a children's hospital.
This paper's explanation, backed by Professor Lillrank, is that public funding can be targeted at other projects since suffering children arouse so much sympathy that enough donations will come pouring in to get the hospital built.
Budgetary gambling
Iltalehti reports that the small Uusimaa municipality of Pukkila has come up with an even more novel way of funding public services - playing the lottery.
Tired of endless, boring debates about budget issues, the city council decided to add an element of suspense by passing an appropriation of 2000 euros earmarked to purchase a weekly ticket in the national lottery for the whole of 2014.
Pukkila's municipal administrators will choose a series of numbers to bet on each week and publish their choice on the city's website. Local citizens will be given the chance to make suggestions on how the money will be spent, if and when they hit the jackpot.
