By Dr Donald Rhodd, Contributor 
Rhodd
I AM writing in response to a letter written by Trevor Radway, of Knapdale District, Brown's Town, regarding Early Childhood Education problems. I must bring to your attention that despite the challenges much has been done and is being done to foster quality early childhood development. It is important to note that our focus is on early childhood development (ECD) and not just early childhood education. The latter focuses on the schooling component, whereas ECD focuses on the total development of the whole child, i.e. care, nutrition, health, safety, appropriate stimulation, physical, socio-emotional and intellectual development.
To this end many initiatives are being undertaken to improve the quality of the nation's early childhood programme. The Basic School Enhancement Project is a multi-million dollar project being financed by Government to enhance the learning environment of basic schools and resource centres through improvement to physical facilities and training of early childhood practitioners.
BENEFICIARIES
Government is now expanding the Roving Care Giver's Prog-ramme, which provides early stimulation and parenting guidance for children in the birth to three years age cohort and their parents. These beneficiaries live in rural communities and cannot afford day care services. School leavers at the secondary level are being trained through the National Youth Service Programme as care givers. This is a win-win scenario. In the Roving Care Givers Programme the benefits accrue through the service provided as well as the experience and exposure of these young adults to the dilemma of premature parenting.
The Transition Project is involved in the implementation of strategies to improve the collaboration between pre-school (basic schools) and the lower grades of the primary school. The purpose is to facilitate a smooth transfer of the children from the basic to primary school and make them better able to cope with learning at this level.
The National Council on Technical Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) programme to train and certify early childhood practitioners is successfully being implemented. Recently over 5,000 practitioners have been certified at level one. Three teachers' training colleges now offer the diploma in Early Childhood.
OFFSITE TRAINING
Recently Shortwood Teachers' College launched its offsite training programme in Portmore for early childhood practitioners to access the diploma part-time .
Many practitioners are currently pursuing Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in early childhood at the University of the West Indies and the University of South Florida in collaboration with Shortwood Teachers' College.
A review of the curriculum is currently being undertaken to reflect the integrated early childhood programme and the focus on developmentally appropriate practices for this age group.
The assistance provided by the National Youth Service Workers in the Early Childhood Prog-ramme helps to reduce the adult/child ratio. Some of these National Youth Service workers also choose to continue their career in the Early Childhood Sector.
Government's plan to regulate the Early Childhood Sector as a means of improving the standard of service and quality of programme delivery is well advanced. The Early Childhood Commis-sion Act was passed in March 2003, with the Commission now in operation. The main function of the Commission is to ensure an integrated and co-ordinated approach to the delivery of quality early childhood programmes and services.
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
With reference to the comment, "There is too much bias between Government-run basic schools and those controlled by communities", it may be instructive to point out that the findings of a recent investigation show that the community run basic schools have access to more funding than the Govern-ment infant schools. This emphasises the importance of the community participation to augment financial resources provided by Government.
Despite financial constraints, Government's contribution to basic schools has increased significantly, each year, during the last decade. For example in 1989/90 the annual budget for basic schools (salary subsidies and grants only) was approximately $9.9 million. By 1998/99 the budget had increased to approximately $241 million. In 2002/03 it increased to $720 million (see Sunday Gleaner, January 11, 2004).
While we remain fully cognisant of the fact that there is much more to be done, we should take note that much has been achieved to improve the quality of the Early Childhood Development Programme.
This response has highlighted only a few of the many planned interventions to upgrade the Early Childhood Development Programme.
Dr. Donald Rhodd is Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture.
