Parents have an extra week to sign up for free preschool initiative

PARENTS have been given an extra week to register children for the free pre- school initiative for which they were to have signed up by the end of next week.

Children’s Minister Barry Andrews said the decision was based on the difficulties the weather may cause for parents wishing to sign up for the scheme, for which all children born between February 2, 2005, and June 30, 2006, are eligible.

They will be entitled to free preschooling up to the end of June from one of around 4,000 service providers already registered with the minister’s office.

Service providers claim there has been a very low level of uptake for the scheme because of confusion over the criteria.

However, while stating that the numbers of places being taken will not be known until participating service providers make returns (which they can now do up to January 29), a spokesperson for the minister said he is confident that there will be strong uptake.

Around 65,000 children are eligible to participate in the scheme, which will be available from September to June from next autumn.

It is being introduced at a cost of around €2,400 per child to replace the early childcare supplement previously paid to parents for children up to the age of five-and-a-half.

Meanwhile, the various bodies representing primary school boards of management have questioned the logic of Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe’s order that all schools should close until Thursday.

The decision announced on Friday evening was based on health and safety impact recent weather conditions but the management bodies said more than 30% of primary schools were able to reopen last Thursday after Christmas holidays.

“In locations unaffected by the current weather emergency, there is no reason for schools to close and such closures will cause unnecessary disruption for parents, children and staff,” they said in a group statement.

They said access roads and pathways to schools will have to be cleared as an urgent priority of the crisis continues.

It is unclear if schools will have to shorten mid-term or Easter holidays to make up for the loss of up to five days at the start of the term.

Department of Education officials will discuss how to lessen the impact – particularly for Junior and Leaving Certificate students – with management bodies, teacher unions and other education partners.