-if called upon to form next gov’t
The People’s National Congress Reform/A Partnership for National Unity (PNCR/APNU) has stated that if called upon to form the next government, it would ensure that early childhood care and education would be a top priority with an approach that would be holistic, a coalition release stated yesterday.
The release referred to the PNCR/APNU’s unveiling of an outline in November 2022, of its Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy for public comment to coincide with UNICEF’s World Children’s Day 2022. “We said then that in designing our ECCE policy, we could not agree more with the observation that ‘To have strong healthy children, you need strong healthy families. To have strong healthy families, you need strong healthy parents.’”
As such, the coalition highlighted that its policy confronts the fact that Guyana ranks poorly on several critical measures of infant/childhood and maternal health and well-being. These, it stated, include maternal mortality, low birth weight, under-five mortality, child poverty, under-five malnutrition and stunting, and female mental health. Further, Guyana also ranks below average in female participation in the workforce, paid maternity or parental leave, formalisation of care-giving employment, and parent-friendly workplaces.
Further, it emphasised that its policy also confronts the fact that the first five years of a child’s life are critical for the development of the child’s brain. Therefore, without proper care and nourishment, that child is unlikely to realize his or her full mental and cognitive potential as an adult.
After having had the benefit of comments, the coalition revealed its ECCE policy which now comprises the following six components:
1) Childcare Allowance and Nutrition Voucher – The coalition will pay a monthly childcare allowance of $10,000 for each child up to 16 years old, with an additional nutrition voucher of$2,500/month for each child up to 5 years old. Both allowances will be universal, regardless of whether the parents work or not.
2) Higher investments in school feeding – The school feeding program will be ramped up by providing two nutritious meals a day countrywide. The coalition will explore the option of setting up large local kitchens (with trained staff) to cater for a cluster of schools in each district.
3) More available and accessible high-quality health and well-being facilities – Top-quality and free health care and wellbeing support for mothers and children will be provided throughout pregnancy and the early years of the child by amping up these services in terms of availability, accessibility, and effectiveness.
4) Longer maternity/parental leave – Guyana will be brought in line with many of the advanced countries in granting five to six months of paid parental leave, arranged to include a role for the father. The current paid 13-week maternity is inadequate on several measures. It prevents too many mothers from breast-feeding for the medically-recommended six months and it excludes fathers.
5) More available daycare facilities – a daycare system will be created to ensure that (a) adequate and properly-regulated day care facilities are available to fulfil demand—through a mix of state-owned facilities, private licensed providers, and home-based kinship or nanny care; (b) the State stands most or all the cost for day care services, and (c) very importantly, caregivers are adequately trained and compensated. The contention is that such a system will encourage more female participation in the workforce.
6) More parent-friendly workplaces – We will either mandate or encourage/incentivize both private and public sector workplaces to better accommodate pregnant mothers and those with young children by enhancing workplace flexibility for both parents. Measures would include allowing for part-time or unconventional work hours; leveraging technology (such as working from home); reducing travel time to and from work and other undue burdens on mothers/parents.
The release noted that that the ECCE policy will also cater for families in exceptional circumstances, such as those with children with special needs and those from migrant or refugee populations. It noted that with proper planning (based on gap and needs assessment, for example), execution, monitoring and adjusting, the anticipated benefits to the Guyanese people of the policy’s comprehensive approach will include:
(i) Stronger and happier mothers and families, and a more caring and stable society; ii) greater social justice through gender parity or equity; iii) better socially-adjusted children—who are less likely to engage in deviant and criminal behaviours as they age; and iv) expansion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through greater female participation in the workforce and higher productivity from female workers, the release added.
