Quebec announced Friday a pilot project that will support the development of nine daycare centers in CEGEPs and universities in Quebec.
The pilot project, valued at nearly $2 million over two years, will fund such drop-in daycare services in the Centre-du-Québec, Lanaudière, Côte-Nord, Abitibi- Témiscamingue, Mauricie, the National Capital and Montreal.
These drop-in daycares allow student parents to have access to a nearby daycare service, which facilitates the balance between studies and family life, in addition to work, often.
Drop-in daycare centers are complementary to educational childcare services.
“They offer temporary, part-time or occasional childcare to parents who have irregular or atypical needs, whether to participate in workshops, training, job searches, benefit from parental respite or even for those who want, for example, to ensure that their child can socialize before entering kindergarten,” explained Sandrine Tarjon, Executive Director of the Association des haltes-garderies communautaire du Québec.
Better understand needs
The Minister of Families, Suzanne Roy, who announced the pilot project at a press conference in Montreal, stressed that it was the student associations themselves that developed these projects, in order to properly respond to the needs of student parents.
“We didn’t have many that already existed [en milieu étudiant]. The fact that this is a pilot project will allow us to see the different needs in CEGEPs and different university institutions so that, after that, we can better manage the offer and better serve our students,” explained the Minister.
Mme Tarjon specified that approximately 45,000 children per year stay in one of the 300 community daycare centers in Quebec.
The Minister of Families specified that more than 33,000 children are on the waiting list for a place in daycare throughout Quebec.