ACT New Zealand Education Spokesman Heather Roy today congratulated Education Minister Steve Maharey for pulling off, what may be, the biggest scam in New Zealand's history of Early Childhood Education.
"Mr Maharey has even managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the charitable trusts that provide funding to the Auckland Kindergarten Association - so well, in fact, that these trusts are now either opting out or threatening to opt out of the arrangement," Mrs Roy said.
"This means the AKA is at risk of losing $1.1 million of funding a year - and will have to charge parents an additional 50 cents per hour per child to provide 20 hours free Early Childhood Education for three and four-year-olds.
"So much for Mr Maharey's statement that: 'from July 1 tens of thousands of New Zealand parents will have more money in their hands every week' - or perhaps he simply wasn't including Auckland parents in that statement.
"A group of concerned parents - '20 Hours Free. Please' - has delivered a petition to Parliament urging the Minister to keep his election promise that '20 hours free education will be provided for three and four-year-olds at any licensed teacher-led service in New Zealand from July 2007'. Around the nation, 3,375 people have signed this petition.
"This just goes to show: Mr Maharey can fool some of the people some of the time, but he can't fool all of the people all of the time.
"Mr Maharey has put Early Childhood Centres in an untenable situation, stuck between parents on one side and the Government on the other - and unable to make either one happy.
"With ECCs facing a tough enough time as it is, the least Mr Maharey could do is come clean and admit that his interpretation of the term 'free' is different to that of the rest of the English-speaking world - then, perhaps, the AKA might be able to retain some of the funding they so desperately need to provide quality education," Mrs Roy said.Labels: academy awards, career training, education online, financial aid, free college, free education, high school, scholarship, student loans, study abroad |
