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Queensland's 465 community kindergartens will be open and free next term, the State Government has announced.
Key points:
- Community kindergartens in Queensland will be free up until June, after a $17 million funding announcement from the State Government
- The Premier would not confirm if schools would stay closed or re-open for term two but said an announcement would happen by Tuesday
- Twelve new cases of coronavirus were recorded in Queensland overnight
"We're going to put in $17 million to enable the community kindergartens to continue to be free up until June, so that's for the second term," Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
"There's about 22,000 children that are in kindergarten programs and there's about 465 [centres] throughout Queensland.
"I know that this will be a lot of added relief to a lot of parents out there that have been speaking to both [Education] Minister Grace [Grace] and myself about what's going to happen to community kindergartens," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"130 of those [centres] are in regional and remote Queensland," Ms Grace said.
"I know the community kindergarten sector had been asking for this."
She said the situation would be reassessed in June.
At the press conference where she made the announcement, the Premier was also asked about when schools would reopen.
"We had preliminary discussions about this at National Cabinet the other day," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"Minister Grace and I said very clearly we would be making an announcement by Tuesday, so there will be ample time to let the parents know right across Queensland."
However she did suggest people without internet access would be able to get hard copies of the curriculum and there were discussions underway with television networks.
Education Minister Grace Grace said about 500 university student teachers may be used to deliver online content to school students.
"We're linking with Griffith University and there's quite a number of students who will be able to complete their course because of what we're going to be putting into place," she said.
"If you can't do your practical, it's hard to finish your university degree. This will give them the ability to do that."
The Premier also confirmed 12 new cases of coronavirus in Queensland, taking the state total to 983.
"We have unfortunately 12 people who are in ICU and we've carried out over 72,000 tests," Ms Palaszczuk said.
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Topics: epidemics-and-pandemics, covid-19, federal---state-issues, health-policy, travel-health-and-safety, federal---state-issues, education, schools, government-and-politics, diseases-and-disorders, infectious-diseases-other, respiratory-diseases, brisbane-4000, qld
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