THE EDITOR, Sir:
IN REFERENCE to the Prime Minister's recent call for greater private sector support for early childhood education, I would like to highlight the Roving Caregivers Programme (RCP), a well-conceptualised and well-organised early stimulation programme already in existence in Clarendon.
The RCP is a non-formal, home-based integrated programme of child development and parenting education designed and implemented to address the needs of poor rural families. It deserves commendation for its innovativeness, cost-effectiveness, practicality relevance and integrated nature. It also deserves to be replicated as a model for early childhood development throughout the island.
Coordinated by the Rural Family Support Organisation (RUFAMSO), the RCP has been lauded internationally by UNICEF for its contribution to the field of parenting education and has been replicated in several other Caribbean territories.
CONCERNED WITH GROWTH
The RCP reaches over 250 homes and 750 children annually. Since its inception in 1994, it has served more than 3,300 parents and more than 5,400 children while providing employment for nearly 100 caregivers - some of whom are National Youth Service members from the area and others of whom are parents of children who graduated from the programme.
The RCP is concerned with the early stimulation of children from birth to age three. Through their visits the caregivers seek to:
Equip parents with appropriate parenting skills (i.e., discipline, not corporal punishment, routine and consistency, knowledge of health and safety issues and educational activities they can do at home with their children.)
Prepare children for learning.
Assist parents with their own personal development and empower them to want better for themselves and their children.
Enhance parents' abilities to communicate with their children and other family members.
While working on a review
of parenting materials for the Early Childhood Commission's parenting subcommittee, I had the pleasure of visiting RUFAMSO at their May Pen headquarters and seeing the Roving Caregivers in Action in Portland Cottage.
I came home VERY impressed by the thoroughness of their approach and the response of the children I observed, aged eight months to four years old.
These children were having fun while exercising fine and gross motor as well as cognitive and skills singing, stacking blocks, fitting in puzzle pieces, showing recognition of some colours and shapes, and throwing and catching balls. Their parents also have access to some HEART/NCTVET certifications, as another aspect of the RCP is a parenting support group that includes enhancing parents' job skills and supporting income generating activities.
EVALUATIONS SHOW
Regular evaluations have shown that children who participated in the RCP entered the formal basic school system exhibited higher vocabulary levels than those who had not participated and performed better overall through their basic school years. In addition, they had the added benefits of parents who were more attuned to the importance of early childhood education.
Despite the fact that I am a professor of education, I left May Pen with ideas of activities to do at home with my own toddler and a beautiful CD of RCP written, interactive songs sang by the caregivers and the children, which my son loves.
In 2000, the project was field tested under a Government supported project in poor, urban communities of Kingston and St. Andrew but it was discontinued due to a lack of sustained funding.
If there is to be serious policy development around the Prime Minster's call to arms for early childhood, I highly recommend that policymakers and businesspeople from the Prime Minister on down visit this programme and see what I saw.
If they do, maybe it will be given priority consideration for sustained private sector support. The replication of the RCP will no doubt make a positive difference in the lives of countless children and parents around the island and, in turn, on the island's education system and social fabric.
I am, etc.,
Dr. REBECCA TORTELLO
Jacks Hill
