27th September 2021
Early Childhood Unit acknowledges successful reopening of school
By Ministry of Health
Despite the closure of learning institutions due to the surge of COVID-19 cases, there is one small population of young learners who have been fortunate to return to the classroom amidst the pandemic. This is all due to the concerted efforts of the early childhood Services unit, administrators and stakeholders.
Close to the one month marker of a successful reopening of early childhood centers island wide, Training Officer at the early childhood services unit Ruth Phillip Fevrier reflects and says that the move to open early childhood centers was a thorough, collaborative process involving several governmental agencies such as the Saint Lucia bureau of standards, environmental health and the early childhood services unit working to ensure the safety of children, staff and administrators.
"We had to work with the Bureau first to develop those protocols, when the protocols were established we had to share it with our key stakeholders. We had to have virtual meetings to have input from the sector, what they felt . prior to opening, each center had to develop and complete what we call a COVID-19 response plan where they lay it out quite clearly, what the guidelines would be for their specific Centre in relation to national protocol, set by the department after that they were inspected by the department of environmental health and if the officers found that everything was in line to the standards, then they were granted approval."
The age grouping of birth to 5 is a critical time in the development of children and all must be done to ensure that they remain engaged and active. Administrator of the Precious Jewels Early Childhood Development Donna St. Juste added that early childhood centers provide so much more than just learning, it’s a space for the holistic development of young ones which include socialization, expression and play.
"This is where it all begins, the foundation is set between those ages, and I think it is very critical for them to be at the Centre during this time for face to face interaction instead of being at home one of the things we realized was the behavior, when they came back it was totally different, they had forgotten the routine and the structure and it was very difficult for the teachers go through, they had to start over to get the children back into routine."
Some favorable factors come into play when it comes to considering the reopening of early childhood centers this September, the numbers on site are a lot smaller therefore spaces are a lot easier to control. Research and science shows that the transmission and mortality rate of this age grouping is extremely low. Thus strides have been made to create and enforce robust protocols to protect children to allow them to be back at school. . Phillips Fevrier also mentions that the children are eager to learn and extremely responsive to the new rules.
"We are open now when everyone is closed because of the protocols, plus we are dealing with a cohort that is in a sense easier to manage. Our children aim to please, they do not try to be overly disrupted, so as long as the practitioners model the behaviors, we also feel very confident the children will also model these behaviors and the spinoff of that, they too will remind their parents to follow the protocols and ensure that parents do likewise."
One hundred and thirty one early childhood centers are open today and continue to be one shining example of working through the pandemic and also a chance for children to be back at play.
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