Monita Botha’s early learning struggles for daughter in Katherine

One mum hoped moving across the world would give her daughter the best education possible. When she arrived in the NT, she was met with the same barrier to accessibility that families across Australia are struggling to overcome.

A family has been left feeling duped after they moved across the world to pursue an Aussie education for their daughter but tripped on the first hurdle.

Monita Botha packed up her family and moved from China to Australia to pursue a “very high quality” learning journey for her 17-month-old daughter, Amoné.

But when she arrived in Katherine, she quickly learned the country’s renowned education standards were being let down by a dwindling pool of teachers.

Ms Botha has secured Amoné a spot on the waitlist for Kentish Katherine – a new ELC in the region – but is worried her child’s education will be set back by the inaccessibility of early learning in the Territory.

“These are the most important years, the foundational years for them,” she said.

“(It’s important) for them to actually attend a place where they can get the stimulation they need.

“We want them to get the best of the best in these early years.”

The lack of early childhood education in Katherine also means Ms Botha is forced to stay home instead of joining the NT’s struggling workforce as a teacher.

“I could deal with anything – with a remote town... (and) the fact that I now have to be a stay at home mummy for a while,” she said.

“But it is difficult for me to accept that there’s nowhere to send her if I want to work.”

Amoné Botha at Cullen Bay.

Kentish Katherine centre director Mandavi Thapa said the ELC opened its doors a year ago.

Ms Thapa said she thought the centre would “support Katherine’s community” by boosting the number of childcare spots in the area.

“I guess we were wrong and we are still struggling to cater the needs of our community,” she said.

“Our hands are (tied) – with limited educators we are sitting at 50 per cent capacity and our waiting list is long.”

With many families leaving town because they can’t access childcare, Ms Thapa said the centre’s biggest challenge was staff turnover.

And when staff do pick up work at the centre, she said many don’t stay long because the team is too small or the incentives were “not good enough”.

Ms Thapa hoped the Thrive by Five campaign – with its call-out for a $10 million investment in the Territory’s early childhood education workforce – would improve the working conditions in ELCs like Kentish and make childcare more accessible to families.

Thrive by Five NT Early Childhood Alliance convener Sarah Rheinberger said the early childhood sector was in a staffing “crisis”.

Ms Rheinberger said it was not just ELCs that were suffering from workforce shortages, but maternal and child health, disability and allied health services as well.

“Educator shortages, for example, cause huge childcare wait lists that have a ripple effect through whole communities,” she said.
“Children miss out on the early education that is vital for their social and cognitive development, making it harder for them to keep up when they start school.
“Parents can’t go back to work and miss out on income during a cost-of-living crisis, and communities are then denied essential workers like teachers and nurses.”
Thrive by Five NT is calling on the NT government to commit $10 million to bolstering the early childhood development sector’s workforce.

Originally published as Monita Botha’s early learning struggles for daughter in Katherine