ECE Walk in Coromandel

Day of Action:

The Coromandel Community Preschool took to the main street today to show their concerns over the Government cuts to Early Childhood Funding. This week many Early Childhood Services organised events around New Zealand to build public awareness of how the Government has reduced the funding and are proposing other adverse changes.

“Today we wanted to let our community know some of the issues we as a small community are likely to face, if the government continues to cut funding for Early Childhood Education,” said Head Teacher Belinda Williams.

 We are concerned that the government is considering axing the subsidised 20 hours for three and four year olds and replacing it with means testing. Over half of the children attending this preschool receive this subsidy and some children will no longer be able to attend.

This Government has already reneged on the Strategic Plan Labour had in place by changing the numbers of qualified teachers from 100% to 80%. This does reduce the quality of education all children deserve.

Research shows the benefits to children of high-quality early childhood education, and all children have a right to this.