MORE FREE PRESCHOOL HOURS WILL BENEFIT NT CHILDREN, FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES, CAMPAIGNERS SAY
17 July 2024 – Minderoo Foundation’s Thrive by Five campaign has welcomed the commitment by the NT Labor Party to expand free preschool for four-year-olds from 15 hours to 30 hours a week, if re-elected.
Sarah Rheinberger, convenor of the Thrive by Five Northern Territory Early Childhood Alliance, said expanded preschool access would help children start school ready and set them up for success later in life.
“Expanding access to affordable, high-quality early childhood education and care benefits everyone.
“It helps with children’s cognitive and social development, it saves parents money and allows them to have more flexibility, and it benefits local communities through increased workforce participation by primary carers.
“We welcome the commitment by the Territory Labor Party to expand preschool hours for four-year-old children across the Territory.
“Access to high-quality early learning and care helps children start school ready and stay engaged, which can also limit their interactions with the criminal justice system later in life.
“To address systemic challenges such as youth crime in the Territory, we need to invest in long-term policies that enable young children to prosper and provide them with pathways to success.
“Expanding access to early childhood education and care is a vital step in this regard.
“It will also help ensure that meaningful steps are taken towards closing the gap, by enabling more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to access early years education.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children continue to be underrepresented in our early childhood education system, sowing the seeds for ongoing inequities.
“While this commitment by the Territory Labor Party is a welcome first step, it alone will not help address the many challenges families with young children in the Territory face.
“We encourage the Territory Labor Party to take additional measures that help build a more holistic child development system where early years education and care, allied health, maternal health, disability and family support services all function together to create better outcomes for children and families.
“The alliance also calls on all political parties to make public their policy commitments that will help all Territory families ensure their children have the best start to life,” Ms Rheinberger said.
