Nursery school demand fulfilled

THE increased demand for day care places across the island for children is being addressed.

According to Senator Harcourt Husbands, one of the weaknesses in Barbados’ educational system for a long time, under both political parties, was a shortage of spaces in the nursery schools.

“When we reported to UNESCO every year or every two years about our progress, the weakness that we always reported was that there were not enough places in early childhood education to cater to everybody.”

The Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education said that with the development of the Maria Holder Nurseries at Sharon, Gall Hill, Oldbury; Thelma Berry in St. David’s; the Olga Miller Nursery in Six Roads; and with three more on the way, government would have solved that problem.

“Once the other schools are completed in conjunction with the private sector, any child who needs access to education at this early stage – there will be a place for them.”

The Senator, who was at the time addressing the delivery of the Astor B. Watts Lunchtime Lecture Series on Friday at the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Headquarters, admitted that facilitating the expansion of the provision of Early Childhood Education would not have been possible with the generous assistance of The Maria Holder Memorial Trust.

“Fortunately for us, The Maria Holder Memorial Trust has helped tremendously. Without them, we would not have been able to go as quickly as we have gone,” he expressed.

“The Trust has built the schools and the government is running them, so they are government institutions. Without the Trust, we would not have been able to make the great lap that we have made.”

Senator Husbands further revealed that all teachers within the nursery schools are specially trained. “You can’t get a job in these schools unless you have at least a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and training is done in conjunction with a Canadian and an American University. Also, many of those teachers are going to the Masters level – we have set the standard.” (TL)