An Early Childhood Development Centre was yesterday commissioned at Ithaca Village, on the West Bank of Berbice, an initiative that Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry, believes will lead to fewer students being placed in Special Education programmes during their primary years.
Henry, during the commissioning exercise, said that the education ministry recognises that optimising early childhood education is the best investment a society can make to ensure children’s future success. Furthermore, she stated that meeting a child’s needs early on will help them to better learn and retain the foundational skills and knowledge needed to help them succeed in the future.
“The Education Minister further stated that we must remember that a child’s brain develops rapidly during the first five years of life, especially in the first three years. She added that during these years, it is the time of rapid cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional and motor development,” the Department of Public Information reported.
The Development Centre, which will cater to at least 45 children, was constructed under the Basic Needs Trust Fund’s (BNTF) eighth programme, and was one of six pilot projects done across the coast of Guyana. Currently in its ninth phase, the BNTF is a grant-funded programme started in 1979 under the Caribbean Development Bank.
Other organisations that played a role in the centre’s development include the Ministry of Finance, the Child Care and Protection Agency, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of the Presidency.
Sherwyn Wellington, Deputy Regional Executive Officer of Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), who noted that the project aims to enhance the delivery of early childhood development programmes to preschoolers in rural communities, in his remarks said that the programme is being implemented at a critical time. He noted that evidence shows there has been an upsurge in women entering the workforce, and as a result, there is increasing need for the provision of care outside of the immediate family.
“In addition, there is a significant proportion of unemployed mothers from low-income households who cannot afford to send their child or children to a childcare facility outside of their community nor can they engage in full-time employment since they are required to be at home to look after their child or children. These concerns have increased the need for the proposed programme and trained childcare officers”, Wellington stated.
He related that the caregivers that have been placed at the facility are between the ages of 19 and 36, and expressed gratitude that two of them have been recipients of scholarships to further their studies in Early Childhood Development at the University of Guyana.
He said that on the completion of their studies, the caregivers will be promoted, able to take over the mantle of managing the Centre at Ithaca.
Remarks were also delivered yesterday by Member of Parliament, Jennifer Wade, who said that Early Childhood Education is the foundation of education and is important in order to raise the nation’s children the right way.
