- RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Marcia Passard, roving caregiver, educating children on the different types of sounds during a visit to one of the homes in Race Course Clarendon, last Tuesday.
Petrina Francis, Education Reporter
THE ROVING Caregiver Programme (RCP), which was designed to stimulate the minds of children living in economically-depressed rural areas, has reaped tremendous success, so much so, that the programme is to be replicated in Swaziland.
The RCP, which falls under the umbrella of the Rural Family Support Organisation (RuFamSo), is one of four components of the organisation, but it is the RCP that has sparked the most interest.
Born out of the teenage mother programme in 1992, the RCP operates in 43 communities in Clarendon. It was also later replicated in St. Thomas.
How it works:
Caregivers go directly to children's homes. In fact, they go from house to house and engage children in a variety of entertaining and hands-on educational activities which can involve anything from scribbling to singing.
WHAT THEY DO BEST
Last week, a Sunday Gleaner news team witnessed a group of caregivers doing what they do best, with a group of nine children from the Race Course community in Clarendon.
But this was no ordinary visit. This time, the stimulation, (as the visit is called) was patronised by an official of the Swaziland Government.
Minister of Education in Swaziland, Constance Simelane, was on hand to experience the programme, which will soon be replicated in her country.
Ms. Simelane who said she learned of the programme through UNICEF, one of the sponsors, said she found it very interesting and noted that her government likes it because it is community-based.
"It's exciting, I don't want to leave, I want to stay and play with the kids," she told The Sunday Gleaner.
In leaving to catch her flight, Ms. Simelane told the parents, caregivers and children that the RCP is the "best programme in the world".
"I find it very interesting. My two-year-old son learns a lot and he can tell you all the body parts," said Hazel Bell, mother of two of the children on the RCP. Ms. Bell added that her nine-month-old daughter also dances and claps during her stimulation.
NATIONAL AND INT'L RECOGNITION
The programme has received national and international recognition as an effective, low cost, early childhood programme for young children up to three years old. It has been replicated in St. Lucia, Grenada, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Annett Shade, one of 43 caregivers, said the children are usually delighted to see them.
She noted that each month, there is a schedule of activities and the focus for the month of June was on the senses.
The Sunday Gleaner observed excited children touching their noses, telling the taste of the cherries that they were eating, washing their hands, singing songs and listening to and identifying different sounds.
Ms. Shade explained that each activity assists with the development of the child. Some activities help them to build their muscles while others assist with reasoning skills.
The caregiver added that the transition to basic school has been easier for children on the programme, noting that teachers have reported that children who were stimulated perform better than their counterparts who were not.
SKILLS TRAINING
Attached to the RCP, is the parent education programme, which conducts skills training for parents. Parents are trained in plumbing, sewing and baking as well as literacy and numeracy.
Members of the RCP were invited to an international conference in Ghana, Africa, recently to demonstrate how it works.
"We have touched many lives and have seen changes in attitudes and behaviour of parenting practices," remarked Hyacinth Pinnock, coordinator of the parent education programme.
Since its inception, the programme has reached 3,250 children and 1,681 parents in Jamaica.
