The Jamaican Early Childhood Programme

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The Jamaican Early Childhood Programme
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The Jamaican Early Childhood Programme

• It is universally acknowledged that the first
  five years of a childs life offer the greatest
  potential for building the foundations of
  conceptual learning and of developing valuable
  life skills, habits and attitudes, early
  childhood education therefore provides early
  estimulation in bulding interests in positive
  dispositions towards learning.
• The Ministrys Early Childhood Programme dates
  back to 1970 when the government of Jamaica
  adopted and added new dimension to the successful
  Bernard Van Leer Foundation project which started
  in 1965 and was completed in 1975.

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Governments Policy on Early Childhood Education

• The Jamaican Government is fully committed not
  only to the development and horizontal expansion
  of Basic Schools and other institutions for the
  pre-primary school child of the nation, but it
  also belives implicity in the provition of
  quality education and care. It believes that
  irrespective of accident at birth physically,
  socially and emotanionally each child has the
  right to a fair start in life.
• In Jamaica, Early Childhood Education is
  delivered through community operated basic
  schools, government infant schools and infant
  deparments in primary and all - age schools and
  kindergarten deparments of privately owned
  preparatory schools. Readiness of children
  entering the primary school continues to be main
  concern in Jamaica.

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• Early Childhood Programme in Jamaica as it
  relates to equity of our young children
• The Ministry of Education Youth Culture has
  embarked on the process of placing one trained
  teacher in each recognised Basic School with
  minimum enrolment with minimum enrolment of over
  one hundred.
• The Ministry develops the curriculum and trains
  the teachers in regular workshops.
• The enrolments rate of 3 - 5 year old age
  cohort is 91 percent (91) and is one highest
  in the Caribbean Region 1.

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• Over 80 percent (80) of preschoolers enrolled
  attend community operated basic schools and just
  under 20 are in Public Infant Deparments and
  private centers wich benefit from government
  subsidies for teachers salaries, class materials
  and schools meals.
• In 1998 of approximately 237,400 children in the
  birth to three age cohort, only 3,6 of 8500 were
  supervised care with private provision accouting
  for more than 90 percent of the children in 402
  day care facilities.

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• The Jamaican Early Childhood Programming is
  administered through a unit in the Ministry of
  Education, Youth and Culture and encompasses.
• 1,921 Recognised Basic Schools.
• 147 Unrecognised Basic Schools
• 402 Day Care Centers (Government built, private
  homebased)
• 29 Government infant schools .
• 83 Government Infant Deparments.
• 5 Special Edcuation Institutions offering Early
  Childhood.
• MB Structure for viewing

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• Present Early Childhood Projects in Jamaica.
• Integration Programme of Day Care and Basic
  Schools policy enacted in parliament in 1997,
  This collaboration through integration provides a
  more effective means of latering to the
  development of the Whole Child at the most
  critical stage of development.
• Enhancement of basic schoolsproject
• concentrates on physical structure training
  and environment.
• Roving care givers programme
• A programme which takes child care to the most
  needy children
• in rural Jamaica, interestingly, this
  programme has recived
• international recognition in UNICEFS Maurice
  Peat Award. This
• is now replicated in other countries in the
  region.

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• Present Early Childhood Projects in Jamaica.
• Transition Project
• This was oficially launcher november 2001. A
  project designed
• to facilite the implementation of strategies
  to improve existing
• structures wich will help to bridge the gaps
  between the two
• levels Pre and Primary.
• Curriculum Review
• Presently, UNICEF is funding the writing and
  review of the new
• curriculum for 6 years age cohort.

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• Present Early Childhood Projects in Jamaica.
• Comunity Mobilization underpins the development
  of the early childhood programme. There is strong
  collaboration with interest groups and donor
  agencies. Each early childhood institution has a
  comunity managment board responsible for its day
  to day operations, in a qualitative context. The
  focus of the programme is the development of the
  whole child and as result the strategy employed
  is and integrated approach to programmes and
  service delivery.
• The programmes goal is readiness programme as
  stated in its mission statement. To ensure taht
  children birth six years old are provided with
  the opportunity for developmentally appropiate
  stimulating readiness programmes with emphasis on
  the affective, psychomotor and cognitive
  domains. Health, nutrition and protection have
  also been included in the integrated focus.