Feds, province spending more than $30 million on Manitoba's early childhood education sector

File photo.

The federal and provincial governments are both chipping in to improve Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Manitoba, giving money to post-secondary childcare educators and continuing to reimburse grads of ECE programs.

"No matter what our backgrounds or interests, we can all agree that parents, families, and communities want the best possible future for their children," said federal MP Terry Duguid at Thursday's announcement.

The Canada and Manitoba governments are providing more than $24 million to develop and expand ECE and child-care assistant (CCA) training programs at Manitoba’s post-secondary institutions over the next three years.

Five public Manitoba post-secondary institutions will receive money to expand their programs. Assiniboine Community College in Brandon will get $11.4 million, while the University College of the North will receive $5.5 million in funding.

In Winnipeg, Red River College Polytechnic will get $2.8 million, while $1.6 million will be allocated to the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology.

The Université de Saint-Boniface is using its $3.4 million to provide francophone-centred ECE III training beginning in September 2024. The university will also be adding 15 seats to its French-language ECE Diploma Workplace Program.

"In two years, we have opened 3,000 spaces for Manitoba families," said Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko. "New spaces and facilities are not possible without the caring and professional staff to oversee them."

Ewasko added the funding will add an estimated 998 seats in the province over the next three years and will support close to 2,000 total new student admissions.

Another $6 million is going towards a successful ECE tuition reimbursement initiative, which provides eligible applicants with a reimbursement of up to $5,000 per academic year. The Manitoba government has provided more than $2.7 million in tuition reimbursement to 631 Manitobans in ECE training so far.