EARLY childhood education is an integral part of the agenda of the Government and will receive all the support necessary to ensure that pre-schoolers can better learn and retain the foundational skills and knowledge to help them succeed later in life.

This assurance was given by Minister of Education, Dr. Nicolette Henry, when she declared open the Early Childhood Centre at Ithaca, West Bank Berbice on Thursday. She said that it is her profound belief and that of her Government that optimising the early years of children will give them a jump start into learning. “We believe that early education provides the best platform for academic practices and training; for honing the intelligence and the skills of pre-schoolers. It is the best investment we can make as a society to ensure the future success of their young and brilliant minds,” Dr Henry said.

Working parents, including single parent mothers and fathers in the village of Ithaca, West Bank Berbice and its environs, are now being able to maximize their income and pursue skills training and education with the establishment of the day care service for infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers. The construction of the ECEC at Ithaca, to the tune of $36M, was financed by the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) from funds received from the Government of Guyana (GOG) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The Centre at Ithaca will be managed on a day-to-day basis by the Regional Administration of Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) in collaboration with the Child Care Unit of the Ministry of Social Protection (MoSP).

In addition to Minister Henry, the opening ceremony was attended by senior staffers of the Basic Needs Trust Fund, including Mr. Dikedemma Utoh, Project Manager; the Finance Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Michael Joseph; Member of Parliament for Region 5, Ms Jennifer Wade; Regional Executive Officer, Ovid Morrison; Deputy Regional Executive Officer, Mr Sherwyn Wellington; Regional Education Officer, Ms Deon Lewis and her senior staffers as well as parents of the children who have begun to get the service from the trained staff at the Centre.

The Centre caters for children between three months and one year old, children between one and two years old, pre-schoolers between two and three years old. It also provides an after care service for children from nursery school who can be accommodated after their school day is over. The service is being offered at charges ranging from $1500 to $2500 per month and the Administration of the Region will be flexible in this regard whenever necessary, DREO Wellington said. The ceremony was chaired by Ms Samantha Phagu-Singh, Nursery Education Officer of Region 5.