The challenges experienced by early childhood education before the emergence of the current pandemic of COVID-19.
This article discloses some of the challenges experienced by early childhood education before the emergence of the current pandemic of COVID-19. It explains how child care educators were faced with hardships concerning payments, and wonders how their remuneration shall be after the current pandemic. The pandemic has deteriorated many sectors of the economy. What is most likely expected across various sectors is a decrease in salaries and wages. From the article, only $10.70 was the hourly pay for childhood educators before the pandemic came in. Generally, the expected pay after recovering from the pandemic is expected to be below that given figure. The article argues that the role played by child care educators is very crucial, and so they deserve high pay.
The author argues for high-quality child care services after the economy recovers. Otherwise, child care programs would be non-operational. They would be opened and shut down immediately because they did not meet the required health standards for young children. Some of the proposed strategies to adopt to ensure that child care is reopened without worry include increased sanitation expenditure, lower enrollment to monitor the children’s health standards effectively, and maintenance of the same fixed costs. Therefore, “there should be ongoing, consistent, and substantial private, public, and philanthropic investment initiatives that can pay for programs to exist in the entire economic recovery.” The author states that financing and structuring systems that support the required child care standards are upon the state leaders and policymakers. In the article, the author proposes increased investment in early childhood educators’ compensation and education. If they are appropriately compensated, and their essential status is permanently guaranteed, their services would be promising. The author states that the pandemic has emerged to open up leaders’ minds to resolve significant challenges that have confronted people for decades.
Several measures have been highlighted in the article to ensure a better and more equitable future for the child care sector. The measures promote and uphold children’s health status and their future and emphasize child care educators’ problems that should be addressed for the quality delivery of services. Below are some common examples of the suggested measures:
A contract rather than a child should be the emphasis. This strategy insists that the state builds on the current measures to adopt contracts with eligible regulated and licensed programs in homes and centers, which pay for a defined figure of slots that can be relied on and used to serve eligible children. “The cost of quality should be covered,” this means that States should provide sufficient subsidy funding, especially to low-income families so that their children receive high-quality child care services. By doing that, there would be increased cognitive, emotional, and academic benefits to children. Moreover, childhood educators should be paid what they deserve. This strategy is compared with the payment made to health care professionals after the outbreak of COVID-19. If they were not well remunerated, they would not have worked hard. Similarly, those in the early childhood sector should be considered, as well.
Generally, the health of everybody is vital. Furthermore, children’s health should be the priority in matters concerning their academic realm. Quality education and required health standards should be ensured. The needs of care educators should also be addressed. Before child care programs open up after the economy recovers, any issues hindering effective service delivery in the child care sector should be addressed.