Raymond Munroe (right), principal of the Calabar All-Age School, and Cheryl Kim, general development officer for USAID Latin America and the Caribbean and attached to the Caribbean Centre for Excellence (CETT), speak to students during a visit by the directors of CETT to the school yesterday. Looking on is UWI Professor, Errol Miller, who is also director of the CETT. CETT directors for Latin America and the Caribbean visited seven schools yesterday as part of efforts to implement the CETT programme. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN of the Early Childhood Commission, Dr. Maureen Samms-Vaughn, has charged teachers of early childhood institutions to upgrade their qualifications to improve the standards of early childhood education.
Dr. Samms-Vaughn, who was speaking at an appreciation ceremony and seminar for teachers of South East St. Andrew recently, at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) auditorium in Kingston, said that "Basic schools are very important to the country and every teacher is required to at least have a level one qualification of the HEART training programme".
She outlined findings of the commission, which indicated that a number of teachers in basic schools were not qualified. Additionally, she noted that principals were required to have at least a level three standard, including administrative skills.
FIRST SIX YEARS MOST IMPORTANT
The executive chairman stated that under the Early Childhood Development Act, which is now before Parliament, all early childhood institutions would have to be registered. She noted also, that emphasis would be placed on the zero to six-year-olds rather than just three to six-year-olds, as surveys showed that the first six years of a child's life were the most important.
Dr. Samms-Vaughn said that Jamaica had a proud early childhood education record, with 96 per cent of the country's three-year-olds enrolled in school.
