FINANCE Minister Winston Jordon on Sunday opened a new Early Childhood Development Centre at One Mile, Wismar, Linden.

The simple ceremony saw in attendance Mayor of Linden Waneka Arindell, Regional Education Officer (ag) Keane Adams, Member of Parliament Jermaine Figueira, Regional Executive Officer Orrin Gordon, other regional officials and residents.

The $38M facility will be accommodating some 45children from three months old to nursery age, and its caregivers will be employed from the community. The funding was made possible by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The service will be offered at a very small fee and an affordable meal will also be provided for the children.

Chairing the programme, Dikedemma Utoh, Project Manager of the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), said the centre will allow for more parents to be employed after they would have given birth.

“We acknowledge that a mother needs to return to work after three months, therefore for that mother to return to work, she can bring that child to the centre, therefore, we cater for infants after three months, we cater for toddlers, for pre-schoolers and also if I’m a parent and my child attends nursery school, that child can come to the centre,” Utoh related.

Regional Executive Officer (REO) Orrin Gordon pledged his input into making sure that the building is managed and cared well. Immediately, he said, a security hut will be constructed and a committee will be established to ensure the centre is properly managed. Gordon also said that the caregivers will be trained to give the best service to the children.
Minister Jordon in his short address said, the centre is not as the basic daycare centres but is a new model of approach that will enable the children to be well-positioned by the time they are ready for nursery school.

Jordon urged the regional officials and the caregivers to take good care of the facility so that more money does not have to be allocated to its maintenance.

The finance minister affirmed that the centre is just one of the many plans the government has in store for Linden, adding that these will be made available through the 2019 budget.
“We want to assure Linden that we have your backs so to speak, we are going to do everything possible to assist you in every way,” he said.

Jordon also donated two floodlights and some play equipment for the benefit of the children who would be attending the centre. He also donated a computer to a child who sat the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) examination.