Nova Scotia child care centres have long wait lists and not enough teachers.

The province says they're trying to find a solution and an announcement Tuesday to fund new seats at the Nova Scotia Community College’s early childhood program is part of that.

Those new teachers will end up working at preschools like Learn Play Grow in Bedford.

Toddlers all the way up to 12-year-olds go to this preschool and family centre in Bedford, which can be a busy place.

“We do have a long wait list,” said Sonia Hage-Cameron, the centre’s owner and operator. Some families wait for over a year, she said.

“The biggest thing we need is the teachers to run the programs,” said Hage-Cameron. “We can set up any room we want to, but if we don't have a teacher to run it we can’t run it.”

The centre has had an early childhood educator job opening for six months.

With the province’s new preprimary programs, early childhood educators are in high demand across Nova Scotia.

Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Zach Churchill says the province is hoping to fill that demand by adding 135 seats over three years to the early childhood education program at NSCC.

“This is about helping people get the training they need to meet the demand,” Churchill said.

38 of the seats in NSCC’s program opened up two weeks ago and, already, 11 of them are filled.

That demand is likely because there's been another recent change in the province:

“There has been a huge change in wages which is a really positive thing for all of our teachers, (but) certainly the wages could go higher,” said Hage-Cameron. “The work that our teachers do is amazing; they're with our children all day long.”

Wages are at or above the national average of over $17 per hour -- a change made over the last two years.

In the meantime, the province is still trying to fill other jobs too. They’re looking for six speech language and school psychologists by September:

“We're working hard to achieve that,” Churchill said.

The province has a lot of homework left to do before September.

The 135 seats will cost the province $1.45 million.

They're also adding $800,000 for tuition support for Nova Scotians who attend an early childhood education program at one of the three private career colleges.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown.