The Government of Saskatchewan announced Friday they will be re-purposing child-care facilities in schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, starting March 23.
A media statement released by the government said the child care centres in schools have been closed to existing clients as of March 20. Parents in those centres are receiving communication directly from their child care providers about this change.
“We thank the child care providers in schools for working with us during this extraordinary time to provide this essential service for our health care and other pandemic response service employees,” said Education Minister Gordon Wyant in the statement.
“We know the impact this change has on families but during these times we are looking for everyone to contribute to the support for the broad community response to the COVID-19 virus,” he added.
The statement added that priority for these spaces will be given to staff in health care and other pandemic response workers for infant, toddler, preschool or school age children, that require care as those individuals continue to provide support in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are going to be ensuring that there are appropriate supplies in these institutions to ensure that to the fullest extent possible, they are kept clean and that they are disinfected. The government will be there to ensure that we are providing that,” said Wyant during a teleconference call on Friday.
The government added a list ofeligible people for the emergency and pandemic response child care spaces, which includes employees directly related to providing essential services in healthcare, child protection, income assistance and community living connected to the Ministry of Social Services.
Also, on the list of eligible people includes child care centre employees of licensed child care facilities, employees directly related to providing essential services in SaskPower, SaskEnergy, SaskTel and water and wastewater management, along with employees working directly in residential services connected to the Ministry of Social Services and employees directly related to providing essential services for police and fire.
Wyant added during the teleconference this is not a very normal situation, but they do have every confidence as a ministry and a government the workers in the child-care facilities will provide the best possible support for children.
“There is going to be some challenges, there is no question about that. As we experience those challenges, to some extent we can continue to react to those,” said Wyant.
“The fact that over 2,300 spaces have been made available by different organizations around the province, to help the government ensure that critical services are provided, is a pretty good indication of how committed some of these people are to ensuring success."
