Farzeen Ahmed is a 23-year-old, second-year student at the University of Toronto at Mississauga. Before she goes to her commerce classes, she drops off Danyal, her two-year-old son, at UTM’s on-campus daycare centre.
UTM was without a childcare facility for two years after it was shut down due to low attendance, But since a new, temporary daycare opened in January, Ahmed has been using it each day of class.
“Childcare on campus is not a luxury,” she said. “It provides the basic support a parent needs to continue their education. Most of all, it gives me the peace of mind that my child is nearby.”
Last year, an Erindale Part-time Undergraduate Students (EPUS) survey was conducted to assess the need of childcare among UTM parents. The overwhelming response for the need of a childcare facility on campus, as well as the bigger burden that mothers especially have to bear, motivated the UTM Women’s Centre to come on board.
“I wanted to know why this facility shut down,” said SAC VP Equity Shaila Kibria. “When I investigated it, I discovered that the facility was moldy and unkempt. Parents considered it a safety hazard to their children, so they couldn’t possibly send them there.
“60 per cent of UTM students are female,” she added. “This is definitely a women’s issue.”
SAC and EPUS have approached the administration to help locate space on campus for a permanent childcare facility. But although the university is currently asking for a budget proposal for a UTM daycare, student leaders say U of T is dragging its feet.
“To my dismay, I saw more space being allocated for administrative office space and computer labs, without consideration of the fact that student parents are still waiting,” said Kibria.
According to Kibria, vice provost of students David Farrar off-handedly nixed funding for the temporary daycare service after the end of a January 25 meeting with SAC.
And she said UTM parents need on-campus childcare sooner rather than later.
“Parents live on residence and have to bus their baby or toddler-with a stroller, baby bag, and diapers-off-campus to a community centre to drop their children off and then commute back to school for class. Then they must leave campus again to pick up their children, causing some to miss a class or leave early, and then come back to campus just to go home.”
Kibria notes that the second major concern of the UTM childcare committee is the decreasing number of single mothers that live in residence at UTM, a concern that she said is directly connected with the lack of a proper childcare facility.
“It’s limiting women’s options no matter how progressive we think we are,” said Kibria. “Many single moms have been reduced to part-time status because of this issue.”
SAC said the lack of progress on the problem motivated them and EPUS to go forward-with tentative approval from the university administration-and launch their own service in January. Children garner a high level of attention there-in addition to a staff of daycare workers, there are two early childhood education teachers present.
With the new childcare service successfully running for three months, Kibria said that SAC still needs administrative help in promoting the facility. SAC and EPUS are also concerned that the service may shut down for the summer, but are hopeful that ministry approval for the service can keep it going.
“Our goal is still to have a state-of-the-art centre, but something has to be done for these parents in the interim,” said Kibria. “We have to meet student needs for the summer, so we really hope [Farrar] changes his mind.”
