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Ministry of Children and Family Development |
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NEW INCENTIVE PROGRAMS FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD
EDUCATORS |
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VANCOUVER
– The Province is piloting a new
student loan assistance program for new early childhood educators and an
incentive program for trained early childhood educators to return to the
child-care sector, Minister of State for Child Care Linda Reid announced today.
“The
Province can help improve access to quality child care by supporting the
recruitment and retention of early childhood educators,” said Reid. “The B.C.
Early Childhood Education Student Loan Assistance Program will encourage people
to choose early childhood education as a career and to stay in the field, and
will assist them with the great work they do.”
The loan assistance program will provide up to $2,500 toward
outstanding B.C. student loans of new graduates. Those who graduated in 2007 or
will graduate in 2008 will be eligible for loan assistance of up to $1,250
after each of the first and second years of employment in the licensed
child-care sector. Graduates can begin applying Jan. 1, 2008, and the first
payments are expected in June 2008.
“This
program can reduce the average B.C. student loan debt load for early childhood
educators by as much as 38 per cent,” said Advanced Education Minister Murray
Coell. “Loan assistance is a proven way of encouraging people to pursue a
career and stick with it – in this case, the licensed child-care sector.”
“It’s great to see the Province taking some positive
steps to support recruitment and retention of early childhood educators,” said Andrew
Roets, director of child and youth services
with the Developmental Disabilities Association. “These are promising programs
that may ease some of the staffing pressure on our licensed child-care
facilities.”
Starting
Jan. 1, 2008, the Province is also introducing the Early Childhood Educator
Incentive Grants Program. Early childhood educators who have not worked in the
licensed child-care sector for at least two years will be eligible for up to
$5,000 as an incentive to return to the licensed sector. Full and part-time
employees can receive up to $2,500 at the end of each year of their first two
years of re-employment. The incentive program will be available to the first
100 eligible applicants.
The
two new programs are part of B.C.’s ongoing commitment to address a shortage of
early childhood educators and improve access to quality child-care spaces for
families.
For
more information on these programs, please visit www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/childcare/.
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contact: |
Public Affairs Bureau Ministry of Children and Family Development 250 356-2939 |
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For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca. |
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