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Press release:
Dr. Charles Pascal released his comprehensive early learning strategy, With Our Best Future in Mind, yesterday to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. The report calls for all of Ontario's school boards to offer full-day learning programs for children aged four and five by 2013, a move that will result in 'higher post-secondary participation and success rates.'
"Ontario's undergraduate students strongly support Dr. Pascal's recommendations and are pleased to see the McGuinty government is committed to making them a reality," said Dan Moulton, President of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA). "Improving early childhood learning has profound impacts on a student's future success and begins them on a pathway to higher education."
The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) has long advocated for the development of an early outreach strategy that focusses on underrepresented groups including low income, rural and Aboriginal Ontarians.
Dr. Pascal's report, along with the Poverty Reduction Strategy released earlier this year, echoes the need for early learning.
"Improved early childhood education will undoubtedly lead to greater post-secondary participation of under-represented groups," said Alexi White, Executive Director of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA). "70% of new jobs are expected to require a post-secondary education. To succeed in the knowledge economy, it is imperative that we increase post-secondary participation, especially from traditionally under-represented groups."
OUSA represents the interests of more than 140,000 professional and undergraduate, full- and part-time university students at seven institutions across the province.
- reprinted from CNW Group