The government has launched an online platform to register and check waitlists for regulated daycare spaces throughout the province.
The Early Learning Gateway is designed to help improve access to early learning and child care.
It connects daycare operators with parents who need child care through a digital waitlist, cutting the burden for companies of managing one, while streamlining the process.
Parents can add children to their profile, search for regulated child care services, and add or remove children from waitlists.
(File photo)
Jennifer Quilty, co-owner of Apples to Zebras Daycare in Mount Pearl, says the new portal is a godsend for operators and parents.
“It is an amazing opportunity for parents to actually put down your spreadsheets, enjoy your children, and be able to, at the click of a button, log into this amazing gateway where you register your children and watch the progress from the comfort of your home,” she said.
Education Minister Krista Lynn Howell says people already on waitlists won’t lose their place.
“Right now there’ll be no impact to current waitlists. If you’re already waitlisted in a centre, they will exhaust that waitlist before they move into the new system,” she said. “But it is an expectation that if you’re a part of our operating grant program, then you will streamline your service to be part of the gateway.”
