Rankin Inlet (Feb 17/03) - It was a long wait, but the preschool program is finally up and running.

Sponsored by the Friendship Centre, the preschool opened its doors at the Drop-in Centre for the first time on Feb. 3.

Co-ordinator Carla Brown-Power says there are 16 kids in both the morning and afternoon sessions.

Power wants to offer the program to every four-year-old in Rankin who was born in 1998 and will be attending kindergarten this August.

To accommodate that, the preschool will hold two sessions.

"Essentially, we have 64 available spaces and we've been told there's somewhere between 50 to 60 preschoolers in the community," says Power.

"We got our final licensing approval just one week before we opened. During that week we registered all these children, so we're certainly seeing some positive results so far."

The preschool has two instructors, Brenda Angoshadluk and Barb Nakoolak.

Power says the program will help children to thrive mentally, emotionally, socially, intellectually and physically.

"The children have the opportunity to play with a large number of educational toys and be learning without even realizing it.

The preschool is offered in English and Inuktitut.