By Leson Jones

THE Early Childhood Development (ECD) Unit in the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA), Ministry of Social Protection, continues to tackle reading issues that affect children through a “Back to Basic Toddlers’ Reading Programme.”

In their latest approach through this programme, the ECD unit has covered grounds in their quest to ensure toddlers are equipped with educational learning materials, starting with the maternal health centres.

The programme officers have been visiting various maternal health centres to distribute books to toddlers and interact with their parents on the importance of reading.
This programme was launched in 2018 under the theme “Children learn to read on the laps of their parents”, in collaboration with the Guyana National Library.

Through this new strategy, ECD officers will be visiting different health clinics and conduct reading activities with parents who are not competent readers.

Also, a series of bookshelves were made available at health stations for parents.
According to CPA Director, Ann Greene, the initiative was birthed following a simple observation of a child during a spelling exercise.

“One of the reasons that brought about this idea came from a little child who struggled to spell the word ‘cricket,’ so this initiative was implemented as a platform for children to start learning words from an early possible age and to also encourage parents to urge their children to read.”

The project, while was piloted in Georgetown, was extended to the other regions, including the hinterland and serve as a useful tool to stimulate children’s interest in reading.

“Because of too many distractions such as televisions, electronic tablets, smart phones and video games, children are not doing much reading which is important for their development. So, this programme is designed to break that trend,” Greene explained.
The Early Childhood Development Programme also seeks to continue registration, licensing and monitoring of daycare facilities countrywide.

Registration and Licensing Officers (RLO) are tasked with the responsibility to monitor all childcare facilities, such as daycare, playgroups, and home based care to ensure they meet minimum standards of the CPA.

Part of the registration exercise includes a nine-week training programme for these stakeholders.

The initial phase of this programme was completed in collaboration with the Board of Industrial Training and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The first batch was trained in Region Four, followed by another in Region 10 and the latest batch being from Region Six. This programme will continue until all the caregivers of daycare facilities are trained.

Some 60 per cent of daycare centres thus far have been licensed and registered with staffers completing this important training exercise.
“It is very important and comforting for parents who enrolled their children at a daycare, to know that those workers are properly trained,” Greene told Guyana Chronicle.