A local child care worker wants to know why the McNeil government is opening the new pre-primary program when Early Childhood Educators are already struggling.
Nicole Roach is an ECE in Lunenburg.
She says the province’s plan doesn’t make use of resources that already exist.
“I feel like daycares really could use some more funding before we put extra child care facilities out there into the schools.”
Roach questions where the workers for the pre-primary programs will come from and where space will be found for the children in schools.
As a parent herself, she will still need to make care arrangements outside of the school hours.
Roach wants Education Minister Zach Churchill to explain why government decided to go this route.
“I would ask him why they chose to open another program for the early years, when daycares and when early childhood educators in the province have been so desperately needing funding.”
She feels government should have spent more time talking with parents and childcare workers before launching the program.
Zach Churchill says government is trying to minimize the impact on private daycares.
The Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development says government plans to meet with private providers this fall to work though any conflicts.
He acknowledges finding enough early childhood educators for the fall could be a problem.
“If we do not find the appropriate staffing compliment for these facilities we will not be able to open. We’re going to work very hard with our boards, but if that is something that we are not able to achieve, it will impact our ability to open up a classroom.”
Churchill says there is strong demand for the Pre-Primary program.
Since it was announced, over 500 families have signed on.
However, he recognizes there are still kinks to be ironed out.
“We’re not saying there’s not going to be challenges. There’s going to be a lot of work. There’s going to be obstacles that we encounter. But at the end of the day, we want to have a system in place that provides what we know is helpful for our kids and what we know is helpful for our families.”
Visit https://t.co/tzS7EWvuzk for early childhood educator opportunities. pic.twitter.com/61TNZOZsXb
— NS Education (@nseducation) July 21, 2017