The ACT government is to enact its election promise of providing every three-year-old in Canberra with access to one day a week of free early childhood education.
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Tuesday's budget for the coming financial year will allocate $50 million over four years for the measure, which is to start in 2024.
At the moment, four-year-olds can have 15 hours a week of early childhood education.
And in 2020, 600 three-year-old children in need were given access to 15 hours a week.
The new spending will extend such free education to more children.
The government said the extension would "benefit more than 5,000 three-year-olds across Canberra" and was the "ACT government's biggest ever investment in early childhood education".
"We know that investing in the education of our children provides lifelong benefits and sets them up with the best chance for success," Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.
"The average family with a three-year-old preschooler will save $1,329 as a result of this initiative," he said.
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The ACT government believes the measure will be of great benefit to families from poorer homes, and so improve the chances of such children fulfilling their potential.
The aim of the spending is to increase the number of programs available at early childhood centres but also to maintain and improve the quality of education.
The government said some of the money would be an investment in "the professionalism of our quality early childhood education and care workforce".
Education Minister Yvette Berry said children would benefit from the investment in the professionalism of staff.
"This investment supports them to do what they do best - build brains," she said.
The budget measures include:
- A survey of parents' and children's needs and of the ability of the sector to satisfy those needs;
- Giving online help via a "portal" and helping teachers learn from each other;
- Paid leave and other assistance for "for individuals undertaking qualifications in early childhood education";
- Providing scholarships for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators working in Koori Preschool to increase their qualifications.
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
