Early childhood education in Jamaica
published: Wednesday | November 23, 2005

THE EDITOR, Sir:

IT IS my firm belief that remedial programmes have no place in secondary schools.

Students who enter the secondary school system in Jamaica and have not attained the required level to properly function and make the necessary progress towards tertiary education point to the fact that our early childhood and primary system has failed.

In my opinion, the present move by the Government to reform the early childhood programme is one that should have been in place a long time ago and is a most welcome one. The early childhood programme should be so structured that the persons responsible are equipped with the necessary training to make them able to effectively deliver the type of education that is necessary at this stage of the child's development. We have to ensure that the early childhood education gets the attention that it deserves.

There are methods of assessment that are designed to determine the level of development during the early childhood years - we need to employ these tests so that at the end of pre-primary years, we would have a fairly good idea of their level of development - I believe that our basic schools are the ones that need this type of continuous assessment most.

I am, etc.,

HENRY GRAY

Golden Grove, St. Thomas