11 April 2007

20 free hours - the bureaucratic nightmare begins

The Education Minister's introduction of the enrolment form parents will need to fill out to get 20 free hours of early childhood education is just the start of what will become a bureaucratic nightmare, says National's Associate Education spokeswoman, Paula Bennett.

Steve Maharey launched the form at a Wellington childcare centre today, but Miss Bennett says his claim that receiving 20 hours free is as 'simple as turning up and signing up" is laughable.

" Steve Maharey got sent to the naughty step last week for swearing and now thinks he can come out and take pretty pictures with kids and spread the myth that this will be available to 92,000 children on the 1st of July - parents aren't stupid.

"The Ministry of Education has already resorted to printing a 58-page manual for childcare centres on how to administer the scheme and is travelling the country trying to push centres into accepting a policy that is unwieldy, unaffordable and unwanted.

"In this morning's Dominion Post a mother went public about the high cost and inconvenience of the scheme, saying it was 'a dog's breakfast'.

"The number of childcare centres opting out is increasing daily. In Wellington only 28.6% are in, in Auckland it's a dismal 11.9% and even Christchurch has managed an acceptance rate of only 18.8%.

"The Minister can launch whatever forms he likes but it's not going to change the fact that the 20 free hours concept is, at best, flawed and, at worst, fraudulent because it will not deliver what Labour has promised."

ENDS

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