Gov’t puts emphasis on early childhood education
The Government has committed to ensuring that all children from infancy to six years old are registered, enrolled and attending an early childhood care and development facility, according to the junior education minister, Dr Donald Rhodd.
This new emphasis on early childhood care, education and development is being jointly co-ordinated by the Ministry of Education, HEART/NTA, the National Council on Technical Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Rhodd said the focus on early childhood care was deliberate, as the formative years of a child’s development were the most critical and could not be left to chance, hence the recent passing of legislation in Parliament which will lead to the establishment of a National Early Childhood Commission.
He was speaking Sunday at the inaugural National Early Childhood Certification Ceremony at the Jamaica Conference Centre attended by more than 400 early childhood practitioners. They were among the first batch of graduates to receive the National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NVQ-J) level certificate. In addition, more than 3,800 early childhood practitioners from basic schools, day care centres, infant schools, nurseries and kinder-prep schools have already been certified under the programme.
Chief technical director of the HEART Trust/NTA, Donald Foster, said his organisation was pleased to be involved in such an important partnership, which would help children and teachers across the island. Under the partnership, the HEART Trust/NTA is responsible for the theoretical training, NCTVET does the training and certification, and the education ministry is responsible for supervision and assessment.
UNICEF will provide technical assistance, funding and development of synergies with their existing EC Resource Centres in Clarendon and St Catherine.
Foster said the move to certify early childhood care-givers was a pivotal one for the future development of the country and he challenged the practitioners to apply their new-found knowledge to help the development of the nation’s children, in particular, and the country in general.
During the ceremony, assistant early childhood development officer for UNICEF, Janet Cupidon-Quallo, said her organisation was committed to the development of the Jamaican child at the community, parish and national levels. She also lauded the Government’s plans to set up an Early Childhood Commission.
“Today, we are witnessing history in the making,” said Lola Ramocan, director of the Early Childhood Training Project. “At no other time in our nation’s history have over 3,500 trainees in any one area been certified in such a short time,” she added.
“It is certainly a first for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture and a first for Jamaica, thanks in no small part to the work of the HEART Trust/National Training Agency and the NCTVET,” Ramocan said
She said the ceremony had come after months of hard work in the field and announced that over 300 persons are in training at HEART/NTA locations and will be certified by December this year.
“We also have another test to be administered this month and all other remaining in-service early childhood practitioners will have to take steps to be certified for practice thereafter,” Ramocan said.