Come September, the country’s public nursery schools are expected to see an increased influx of children. In fact, based on information emanating from the Ministry of Education, close to 3,000 children, some of whom had never been in the formal education structure, are slated to be plugged into the system when the new school year starts.
However, there are some worrying trends detected among this very young population which may only be resolved through an intensified partnership between Ministry officials and parents. Speaking of this development in the National Assembly during the recent Budget debate, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, said that based on a research conducted among some 700 children poised for entry at the nursery level, there is need for much more collaborative work to be done.
She disclosed that while some of the targeted children were enrolled in Day Care “we found that some of the things that children should know at three (years) six (months)…that only 32 per cent of our children knew.”
According to the Minister it was found that the majority of children assessed were unable to identify basic shapes and numbers, could not recognise and recite their ABCs, were unable to count and weren’t au fait with basic biographical information about themselves such as their names, address and age.
Moreover, the evidently concerned Minister amplified the need for the daunting development to be addressed forthwith, even as she insisted that “for us it is a bit worrying.”
“We believe that with partnership, if we could get parents to do the supportive work at home, we can better prepare our children,” conjectured the Minister.
The Ministry earlier this year announced a revised nursery entry age of children whereby they will from September be able to access school even if they would have turned three in June. Previously a child had to be three years old by March 31 in order to enter Nursery School in September of the same year.
Manickchand therefore acknowledged the role of the Education Ministry to inform parents, in a mass way, “what it is their children need to know and to tell them how it is that they can use their natural environment; not just buying charts and gadgets but your natural environment will teach the things that children need to learn.”
In using the environment as a teaching aid, Manickchand alluded to the stimulation of children’s colour awareness by enlightening them, for instance, to the fact that “the grass is green and the sky is blue; we don’t have to buy a chart for that; bring the red bucket; (tell them) here is mommy’s orange dress…”
Although arousing such awareness is undoubtedly the role of the education system, the Minister emphasised the need for parents to lend support in helping to plot the way forward. “Even if you can’t read, even if you can’t write, I know (there are) parents (who) spend their lives trying to make their children’s lives better; good parents do that,” Manickchand passionately amplified.
With the anticipated support from parents, Manickchand is confident that the Ministry with its approved $32.3 billion allocation will be able to ensure more enabling education environments for the nation’s children.
Working together with the Ministry of Local Government, she disclosed that the Education Ministry will be seeking to ensure that schools are provided with adequate furniture, among other things, to properly accommodate the young population. Added to this, the Minister disclosed that her Ministry has been able to write its own nursery readers which it will now be able to produce with the approval of its budgetary allocation. “The Budget is going to allow us to print them and give to every single child in nursery (school), so that they can be better prepared,” assured the Education Minister.
Source: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2014/04/24/pre-nursery-school-children-oblivious-to-basic-information-manickchand/