The Ontario government has taken its first step in fulfilling an election promise by announcing it will begin offering full-day kindergarten classes in three years.
The government will spend $200 million in 2010 and another $300 million in 2011 to get the project off the ground, Premier Dalton McGuinty said on Tuesday.
Education Minister Kathleen Wynne said three adults will monitor pupils during the day -- a teacher, an early childhood educator and an educational assistant.
For those parents who wish to have their children in the full-day classes, schooling would begin each day at 7:30 a.m. and run until 6 p.m. Classes would have about 25 kids, Wynne said.
"The kids are there for either half the day or the full day, depending on what their parents want," she said.
Expanding junior and senior kindergarten will improve learning skills for the 250,000 four- and five-year-old students across the province, McGuinty said.
"They perform better when it comes to their math and language skills, and they are also more proficient throughout their school years," he said of early childhood education.
"All that starts in the earliest years, and that's why we are so enthusiastic and excited about moving forward with full-day learning."
The government also announced it has appointed a special advisor to help set up the program.
Dr. Charles Pascal, who McGuinty called "one of Canada's leading experts in early childhood education," is the chairman of the Education Quality and Accountability Office and served as the deputy minister of the Ministry of Education in 1991. He is also the former president of Sir Sandford Fleming College.
Pascal said expanding kindergarten is an important initiative.
"It's all about a huge boost for lifelong learning, Pascal said. "This is huge."
Parents at Bruce Junior Public School, where the announcement was made, said they were thrilled by the kindergarten initiative.
"It's hard for people who are trying to make a living to take care of their kids and it gets very expensive when it comes to daycare," said one father. "This way they're going to be getting a great education at the same time."
"It's more opportunities for (my daughter) to learn," added one mother.
The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care called McGuinty's announcement "terrific,'' but said they would like to see the plan implemented faster and with better funding.
"Honestly, it's going to take a lot more cash than that. It's going to take a lot more funding than that,'' coalition executive director Elizabeth Ablett told The Canadian Press.
"Although I understand it does take time to build something right, it does take substantial funding.''
The New Democrats, however, said they're worried the phase-in plan could take as long as 10 years.
"I'm very skeptical about his commitment,'' said NDP education critic Rosario Marchese. "The idea is to get as much positive press as you can, and then roll it out every so leisurely and still maintain `We're doing it.'''
With a report from CTV's Paul Bliss and files from The Canadian Press
