Bethlehem Moravian College gets new early-childhood training centre

WESTERN BUREAU:

The 160-year-old Bethlehem Moravian College in Malvern, St Elizabeth, now has an early-childhood centre, which was created specifically for the training of early-childhood education teachers.

The new facility, which was officially opened on Monday, was built by the CHASE Fund at a cost of $40.3 million. It features three classrooms, a demonstration room, an office, a kitchen, a dining area, and bathroom facilities.

Dr Andrea Wilson, acting principal of the Bethlehem Moravian College, expressed appreciation to the CHASE Fund and its chief executive officer, Billy Heaven, for their pivotal role in the creation of the newly opened centre.

“Thank you, Mr Heaven and the other members of the CHASE Fund, for seeing to the birth of the Bethlehem Moravian College’s project proposal and providing such a needed facility in our 160th year of existence,” said Wilson. ”We also look forward to our continued partnership in securing additional assistance from the CHASE Fund relative to other projects at the Bethlehem Moravian College.

“The college is the proud recipient of this facility, and we are happy for that as we seek to celebrate the past and reshape the future. We are truly committed to providing the needed educational outreach in this immediate environment, across the parish of St Elizabeth, and across the entire island. The college’s beacon will continue to shine,” added Wilson.

In his remarks during the ceremony, Heaven pointed to the importance of early-childhood education in shaping young minds for the future, a goal that the CHASE Fund emphasises in the projects it funds.

“Early-childhood education should not be put on the back burner and made to suffer. Money spent on early-childhood education is never classified as expenditure, but it is an investment,” said Heaven. “Always remember that early-childhood education is not about teaching; it is about learning, and it is about how you will harness a child’s natural curiosity into learning opportunities.”

The Bethlehem Moravian College, originally named the Bethlehem Teachers’ College, was opened by the Moravian Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands with the purpose of training female teachers. It currently has a population of approximately 600 male and female students pursuing multidisciplinary programmes, which were first offered in 1998.

In addition to offering the teachers’ diploma programme as a member of the Joint Board of Teacher Education, the college offers associate degrees and bachelor degree programmes under the Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica. The school is currently transitioning from a three-year diploma-granting institution to a four-year bachelor degree programme in teacher education.