ECE centres at nine schools

In the next two to three months, up to eighty per cent of this country’s three to five-year-old population will have access to Early Childhood Education (ECE), with the opening of nine government run centres across the nation.{{more}}

Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves made this announcement on Monday, at the opening of the Fair Hall Government School, where one such facility exists.

The Prime Minister, who indicated that his government believes that poverty is best fought through the education of the people, said that recent studies have shown that here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, poverty has been reduced significantly and in part, credited this to the Education Revolution.

Gonsalves said that the ECE program, which he intends to bring to 100 per cent of the 3-5 age group by 2010, benefits the recipients through primary and secondary school.

“The studies have shown that those children who receive quality Early Childhood Education perform better in the primary schools, than those who do not.”

“So that when we get the students having done Early Childhood Education, they are in a better position to take primary education and go on to the secondary education.”

Although there will be focus on the poorest of the population, which the Prime Minister said has the least access to ECE, the intention is that all children between ages 3-5 will be exposed to the best quality education regardless of social status.

“We want to make sure that every one of these children from poorest to richest, we start them off on the same footing… so that they can move from there right on to university, and in that way over a period of time, we erase poverty from this country and develop the capability of every child to the best of their ability.” Gonsalves said.

The Prime Minister also said that parents who have to report to work early in the morning, will have the privilege of dropping their young ones off at these facilities as early as 7:30 in the morning, where a trained worker will be there to receive them, and there to hand them over after the parent returns from work in the evening.(JJ)