In an effort to better disseminate information as it relates to early childhood development, the Ministry of Education hosted an early childhood development national symposium under the theme: ‘rebuilding, rethinking- early childhood development’ last week.
Proprietors of various preschools across the island as well as officials from the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders attended the official opening ceremony last Friday.
Assistant Education Officer, Veda George, stated that independent thinking at an early age is critical.
“We need to get children to be independent learners from very early to learn to seek out knowledge. We cannot afford to have children’s brains wired for lazy work so to speak because it has serious implications for their performance at all levels and in all areas as they grow older,” George stated.
She said there is a need to adjust the way children are taught in their formative years especially at some preschools on the island.
“We need to rethink early childhood development,” she said.
The development of social skills which peaks at the age of three is also of paramount importance.
She said, “The way we present information at every stage of children’s development is different. We need to focus on stimulating the brain of our children from birth to three and not just in preschool but we need to do it in the right way.”
Early Childhood Officer for St. Vincent and featured speaker, Gwenette Cambridge, remarked that early childhood education must evolve along with the rest of the world.
“No matter how good a supervisor you are, if your parents do not get the vision, you can’t succeed. No matter how good a programme you have, if the government does not buy into your vision, you cannot succeed. It has to be a collaborative effort between persons in top management, you the practitioners and the parents,” she said.
Chief Education Officer, Melena Fontaine stated that Government will continue to provide access to early childhood education and will continue to focus on curriculum implementation that is developmentally appropriate.
She stated further that while the Ministry of Education continues to establish community preschools at primary schools, they are by no means putting an end to private initiatives.
“I must however remind you that your institutions must be guided by the standards of statutory rules and orders number 39 of 2003 which regulates what happens within our institutions. I therefore extend my sincere gratitude to all our private institutions which have been providing early childhood education over the years; the preschools and very importantly the daycares.”
She also advised future parents and those with children in the formative years to focus on positive development.
“Let us rethink early childhood development. Let us ensure that we stimulate these children in a positive way,” she said.
Early Childhood Specialist with UNICEF, Shelly-Ann Harper, revealed that UNICEF has launched a global campaign under the theme ‘for every child early moments matter’ which takes a holistic approach to early childhood education.
“We cannot consider positive early childhood development without considering good nutrition and good health; basically we have to make sure that from the time young people are pregnant, we (Ministry of Health, social protection and other agencies interested in early childhood development) should be reaching out.”
Long serving early childhood educators were also awarded at the event.