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Early childhood education and care information resource – Varda

The Early Childhood Education and Care Data Repository (Varda) is a national data repository that was launched on 1 January 2019 and contains information on early childhood education and care providers, early childhood education and care establishments, children in early childhood education and care, and early childhood education and care staff. The Early Childhood Education and Care Information System is governed by the Early Childhood Education Act. It is used, for example, to promote development and decision-making in early childhood education and care, to compile statistics and research on early childhood education and care, and to carry out official tasks. The Finnish National Board of Education is responsible for maintaining the Early Childhood Education and Care Data Repository.

According to the Early Childhood Education Act, municipalities and joint municipal authorities are obliged to record information about the organiser and the premises of early childhood education and care, as well as children’s data in Varda from 1 January 2019. In addition, the municipality is obliged to record data on the number of administrative decisions concerning early childhood education and care from 2024 onwards.

The data stored includes personal data on children in early childhood education and care. The personal data about the child stored in the Varda are:

name, personal identification number, mother tongue, municipality of residence and contact details
the establishment where the child attends early childhood education and care
the date of submission of the application
the start and end date of the decision or contract
the number of hours of early childhood education and care entitlement and information on its use
information on the organisation of early childhood education and care in the form of day care
the way in which early childhood education and care is organised

According to the Early Childhood Education Act, municipalities and joint municipal authorities are obliged to record information on the guardians of children in early childhood education and care in Varda from 1 September 2019. The data to be stored includes personal data about the carers. The personal data of carers to be stored in Varda are:

name, personal identification number, student number, mother tongue, municipality of residence and contact details
the amount of the early childhood education and care fee and the value of the service voucher
the size of the family in accordance with the Act on Fees for Early Childhood Education and Care
the start and end date of the payment decision

Only the data of children in early childhood education and care and their guardians in the Population Information System are stored in Varda in relation to the guardianship concept.

In addition, the following personal data of the data subject are linked to Varda through the register of student numbers maintained by the Finnish National Board of Education:

name, student number and personal identification number or other equivalent identifying information, nationality, gender, mother tongue and necessary contact details.

Siilinjärvi transfers data from the operational early childhood education information system to Varda through system integration. The integration started for children’s data and locations on 14.5.2019.

Rights of the data subject in relation to Varda, pdf

Further information: