Early-childhood education to get more Governmental focus, says Morgan

WESTERN BUREAU:

Robert Nesta Morgan, the state minister in the Ministry of Education, says there will be greater emphasis on the development of Jamaica’s early-childhood education sector, including the provision of advancement and training opportunities for early-childhood teachers.

“The Government is seriously considering how we can improve the salary for early-childhood practitioners, as well as how we can make more basic schools and infant schools that are fully funded by the Government, where teachers are part of the Ministry of Education’s salary scale, paid for by the Government,” said Morgan, while addressing Monday’s official opening of the Bethlehem Moravian College’s new early-childhood centre in Malvern, St Elizabeth.

That declaration comes after years of calls, dating back to as far as 2011, for the Government to assume full responsibility for the vast number of early-childhood institutions across the island. In 2020, it was revealed that 1,125 of Jamaica’s 2,708 early-childhood institutions did not have trained teachers.

During his address on Monday, Morgan said that part of the development focus for early-childhood institutions may include merging of schools to reduce the number currently in operation.

“The Government has to play a more interventionist role in the early-childhood sector, and it does not mean we are going to lock down ‘Miss Mattie’s’ basic school. What it means is that we are going to have to start merging schools and create infant departments. So if you have five basic schools with 10 children each, you can now have an infant school with 50 children,” said Morgan.

“Then you can give the relevant teachers who were at these schools the training they need. So they can go to NCTVET (National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training) and get certified, or they can get their relevant CXC subjects, or go on to the bachelor’s degree,” continued Morgan. “Even though there is a lot that needs to be done to improve the system in terms of salaries for early-childhood practitioners, those of you here who are seeking to enter the profession are going into a better profession than what your predecessors entered.”

Interestingly, Morgan’s declaration came days after the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) said it would not be able to ensure normality in the education system, as its members have been restive over delays in reaching a suitable wage deal with the Government.

In September, JTA President Winston Smith warned that the Government’s proposed offer of a four per cent salary increase, which was accepted by the Jamaica Civil Service Association, would not be accepted by the educators. The JTA had also rejected the Government’s earlier offer of a 2.5 per cent wage increase.

In a subsequent interview with The Gleaner, Morgan said that the Ministry of Education continues to have teachers’ best interests at heart and will provide support where possible.

“The issue of pay will always be with us for a very long time. But what we have to do, as the ministry, is continue to try as best as possible to give teachers the resources, to understand their issues, and assist where we can assist,” Morgan said.