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A plea for more early childhood educators

The Editor: Estevan is in the midst of an employment crisis; this crisis has hit the childcare industry especially hard.


The Editor:

Estevan is in the midst of an employment crisis; this crisis has hit the childcare industry especially hard. Currently the Pure Energy Early Learning Centre & Estevan Daycare Co-operative has a roster of 13 employees down from the regular 22 employees it should be staffing.

This has forced the centre to leave childcare spaces unfilled because of the lack in staffing. Recruiting staff has been extremely difficult in the booming economy that our area is currently facing. The daycare currently has a membership of 54 families; this results in over 100 people that are able to work in our southeast economy.

The Early Childhood Educators (ECE) that are employed within our centre and the other centres in the southeast region are doing an amazing job. These are people that are employed in a field that they love and that they are passionate about. They are not in the field to make millions of dollars, that is for certain, but they are shaping our youth and providing a vital service to our children.

They are not merely babysitters; they truly are educators. The programming that is involved in the early learning education program is phenomenal. Any parent that has the privilege of having one of the province's early learning education spaces will likely tell you that the benefit to their children has been an extremely positive one.

So we ask you if you are looking for a change in your life, please consider a career in early childhood education. If you have a love for children then you will see that it is hard work but the rewards are plentiful. You will see the rewards daily on the faces of our youth; as they learn to walk, learn the alphabet or learn to tie their shoes.

As Henry Adams once said "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."
In addition to a rewarding career, the provincial government frequently offers education grants to ECE employees while they are employed at a licensed childcare centre. So for more information about full-time, part-time or even casual positions and available education grants, please contact one of the many childcare centres in southeast Saskatchewan.

Board of Directors
Estevan Daycare Co-operative