The government continuing to focus on tax reduction at the expense of working families and children in need is a false economy which will have long term poor outcomes for the same families this government is purporting to support, says NZEI Te Riu Roa.
Media coverage of the announcement included the reversal of the planned 20-hours early childhood education initiative extension to two-year-olds, and the future of free school lunches also looks to be in doubt.
Mark Potter, president of NZEI Te Riu Roa, said the union was strongly opposed to the scrapping of the 20-hours free extension of ECE to two-year-olds.
“Thousands of families across the country will now spend Christmas worrying about how they are going to pay for the essential early education of their tamariki.”
He said the union was also concerned that the Minister appeared to be placing the Ka Ora, Ka Ako | Healthy School Lunches Programme on the chopping block. The recent PISA report that New Zealand’s learners suffer from some of the worst food insecurity in the OECD.
“Nicola Willis spoke a great deal about “social investment” in the lead up to the election, but today’s announcement casts major doubt over that approach. We know that investing in quality ECE offers one of the best long-term returns on investment a government can buy, and making sure kids have full bellies is essential to helping them concentrate at school. What better social investment is there than investing in our children?
“We hope that the Minister reconsiders any decisions to take food off children’s plates and cut funding for the education of our youngest citizens to pay for tax cuts for property investors.”
ENDS
Recent media releases
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Early childhood teachers take action on day of pay parity funding freeze
Early childhood teachers, educators, and supporters are taking action across the country tomorrow as the freeze on teachers’ pay parity rates comes into effect.
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Teachers burned on pay equity hit negotiating table
Primary school teachers head into collective agreement negotiations tomorrow for the first time since the Government scrapped their pay equity claim.
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Early childhood teachers aghast as Government eyes quality vs cost trade-off
Teachers are horrified the Government has told a group reviewing early childhood education funding they should consider making trade-offs between quality education and cost.