ECC seeks to assess impact of pandemic on pre-primary students

The Early Childhood Commission (ECC) has dubbed 2022 the Year of Early-Childhood Development, against the backdrop of a gaping lack of resources and growing concerns about learning gaps in the over 15,000 children enrolled at the pre-primary level.

Although data on this learning gap were not captured in the recent Reform of Education in Jamaica 2021 study, published recently by the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission, the implications from a two-year loss of stimulation during the pandemic for children at that crucial stage have not been lost on stakeholders.

At the launch for the proclamation of the Year of Early-Childhood Development by Governor General Sir Patrick Allen, held at the Union Gardens Infant School in Kingston last Tuesday, acting principal Patrice Bascoe told The Gleaner that at that institution, an average of six students out of 18 in a classroom had shown a loss of psychomotor skills since returning to face-to-face classes.

“When we talk about psychomotor, we are talking about the writing and formation of letters and numbers. We are having some challenges with that,” Bascoe told The Gleaner.

“For example, in a class of 18 students, you find that about six of those students have those challenges; whereas, if they were in the classroom, they would not have had that problem. We have noticed learning gaps or a fall-off in terms of social graces. Before the pandemic, the children were used to doing social graces – 'please', 'thank you'. They have lost a little of that,” Bascoe added.

WIDER ISSUE

The odds that this could be a reflection of a wider issue among children at the early-childhood level was borne out in issues raised by ECC Board Chairman Trisha Williams-Singh, who, in talking with The Gleaner, insisted that a study focused on the early-childhood sector was crucial in addressing possible gaps.

“We need research to go looking at the gap created in the zero to five age group. It's very critical, and we would like partnerships to fund this study. We hear about studies for other children in primary and possibly at secondary [schools]. We are asking for a study to be commissioned at the pre-primary level as well, to look at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Williams-Singh said, adding that revelations of the 2021 study highlighted inadequacies which educators had always known.

The findings revealed, among other things, high levels of enrolment of pre-primary children in Early Childhood Institutions, with a contrasting irony of poor performance in literacy and numeracy at the primary level.

The report also found that between 2017 and 2019, 18.3 per cent of children were identified as having early literacy inadequacies, and 20.3 per cent of boys had early numeracy problems.

Children on PATH (Programme of Advancement through Health and Education) showed the greatest level of concern.

Williams-Singh argued that with only about four per cent of the national education budget going to early-childhood development, the result of poor educational output revealed at higher levels in the education system was indicative of a lack at the pre-primary level.

RED FLAG

“If you have a budget and only five per cent is coming to early childhood, then that's a red flag,” Williams-Singh said bluntly, citing correlations borne out in similar early- childhood studies between lack of early stimulation and poor performance into adulthood.

“Children who are poorly nourished and nurtured, or those who do not receive early-childhood stimulation, are likely to learn less in school and earn less as adults. A Jamaican study has also revealed that disadvantaged or at-risk children who were exposed to high-quality stimulation intervention as children earn up to 25 per cent higher wages as adults.

“What we are advocating for is the modernisation of the early-childhood sector,” the ECC board chair stressed.

This beckons to the aims and objectives, and the ECC that was established by the Early Childhood Commission Act (2003), in keeping with the strategic goal of the Government of Jamaica to improve the quality of early-childhood care, education and development within the early-childhood sector.

Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams has indicated that she will be leading efforts in reforming the education system, amid recommendations laid out in the Reform of Education in Jamaica 2021 report and, by extension, addressing inadequacies at the pre-primary level.

“The ministry has a big responsibility and mandate to cater to the developmental needs of our children.

“Against that background, the recently published report by the Education Transformation Commission indicates some positives about what Jamaica is doing, but there are areas of concern to be addressed,” said the minister.

The ECC's efforts to address these issues at the pre-primary level have included the establishment of 116 brain-builder centres across the island for children three months to two years. This is out of 126 such centres that have been identified so far to offer this service.

To date, the commission has certified 80 infant schools, as well as over 200 public-private ECIs.

In total, Jamaica has 2,662 early-childhood institutions.

“Presently, we have 408 certified infant schools or infant departments; we need to be at 500, 600 within the next two to three years. It's about providing quality, free spaces to the most vulnerable,” Williams-Singh said.

sharlene.hendricks@gleanerjm.com