Free nursery education in the spotlight

Free nursery education in the spotlight

Last December, the Education Minister, Senator Mike Vibert, put forward proposals to provide 20 hours of free nursery education a week for 38 weeks a year for all three- and four-year-olds. It will cost £1.5 million a year. The Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny panel, chaired by Deputy Bob Hill, will now undertake a review of the proposal to assess the potential impact of its implementation. Deputy Hill said he expects the review to take around six months. ‘Education have a vision to provide all children with free nursery education,’ he said. ‘It is not a statute requirement. Depending on where parents live it is down to luck whether there is a school nearby with free nursery provisions. ‘This affects many children, right across the board. It is a bit of a lottery at the moment, as some parents have no option for their children to have free nursery education. There is an inequality of access, which is a bit of a concern.’

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