Mobay City Run Organisers Supporting Increased Early Childhood Certification Thrust

Organisers of the upcoming MoBay City Run say one of their main goals is to assist with the certification of more early childhood institutions through the provision of resources facilitating this.

They say this focus is against the backdrop of the Government’s targeting of all early childhood institutions, including unregulated basic schools, for certification in order to, among other things, attract qualified teachers.

Founder and chief organiser, Janet Silvera, notes that the first few years of a child’s life constitute the formative period when basic learning and development occur.

“As almost every psychologist has pointed out, it is extremely important to get it right in the early stages of a child’s life. This is why our aim is to get even more of these institutions certified, so that we can get trained and qualified teachers in these schools,” she said.

Ms. Silvera was speaking at a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) Think Tank at the Agency’s Regional Office in Montego Bay on April 20.

Meanwhile, Montego Bay Branch Manager for the City Run platinum sponsor, Courts Jamaica Limited, Glendon Lowe, said the organiser’s focus is one of the main reasons spurring his company’s decision to double its support for this year’s renewal.

“This fits right into our message of education first… something we have been doing for many years in communities throughout Jamaica (because) early childhood is one of the most critical areas in our education system. It is also worth noting that of the over 100 certified early childhood institutions in the country, a third of them are in western Jamaica,” he said, while speaking at the Think Tank.

Acting Director of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Western Jamaica Campus, Patrick Prendergast, said the institution is happy to endorse any undertaking that prioritises the development of education.

In this regard, he too has commended the MoBay City Run’s organisers for seeking to support the expanded early childhood certification thrust.

Mr. Prendergast, whose students have been among the beneficiaries of proceeds from the event since its inception in 2014, noted that a number of the early childhood institutions which were assisted following last year’s staging were able to gain certification.

“We are unreservedly a part of this event which has become more of an institution in western Jamaica, going into only its fifth year,” he said, while speaking at the Think Tank.

Ms. Silvera, who said she and her organising committee were moved by testimonials from some of the early childhood beneficiaries in 2017, assured that “we will try to do even more this year”, in support of the Early Childhood Commission’s target of certifying about 300 basic schools by 2019.

The MoBay City Run, which is slated for Sunday, May 6, beginning at the Old Hospital Park on Gloucester Avenue, has raised and disbursed over $15 million to needy beneficiaries since 2014.