Quality Early Childhood Education Critical – Rev. Thwaites

Education Minister, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites is urging parents to invest in quality early childhood education for their children to ensure their success at the primary and tertiary levels.

“Sending your children [to a good early childhood institution] is perhaps the best investment you could possibly make in their future. Whatever sacrifice it takes to give our children a good start at early childhood is worth it,” he stated.

Rev. Thwaites was addressing parents at Wonder World Early Childhood Institution’s monthly parenting forum held at the school’s headquarters on Crieffe Road in Kingston, on Friday, May 16.

The forum was held under the theme ‘Parents take responsibility: break the cycle’.

“This is the most important level of education. All the science we know tells us that by age six or seven a child’s personality is formed and a child’s brain has developed and learning patterns have been established.

Therefore, the link between home and school is very important,” he advised.

The Education Minister noted that there are a number of studies that highlight the notion that the early childhood experience is probative of what will take place in a child’s future.

“Historically, in Jamaica we haven’t understood this. We believed that early childhood education was just ‘keep and care’ and that you really just started to learn at the [primary or secondary level],” he stated.

Rev. Thwaites noted that while receiving a sound education at the primary and secondary levels were also important, it is at the early childhood level that the foundation for a good education is set.

“What goes on here (early childhood) is determinative of what goes on there (primary and secondary) – not the other way around. If they get a good start at the early childhood level, they will do well at primary school and at high school and will go on to college,” he asserted.