Manitoba is extending financial support offered to child-care facilities meant to help to offset the financial blow of a now longer move to remote learning for thousands of school-aged students in the province.
Earlier this month, the government committed $1.9 million for child-care facilities in Winnipeg and Brandon after COVID-19 public health orders temporarily sent most students home to learn for an expected three-week span.
But after the move to remote learning was extended last week, the province announced Monday another $500,000 will be made available for the program.
“Service providers have told us the extension of remote learning will result in increased financial pressures due to the loss of parent fees and we are pleased to provide this protection,” said Families Minister Rochelle Squires in a government release.
Students in Winnipeg and Brandon, as well as schools in the Red River Valley and Garden Valley school divisions, are now slated to remain in remote learning until June 7. Students in Dauphin will remain in remote learning until June 9.
The province said Monday the move to remote learning is affecting roughly 10,890 child-care spaces, or 83 per cent of the school-aged spaces in the province.
Squires said licensed centres and child-care homes can apply for additional support to offset their losses of parent fees for kindergarten and school-aged children.
Parents of children in these spaces will not be expected to pay child-care fees during the move to remote learning, the province said, and families will retain their child-care spaces.
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. In some provinces and municipalities across the country, masks or face coverings are now mandatory in indoor public spaces.
For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, visit our coronavirus page.
Comments