Government provides “start-up funds” to assist early childhood education centres

Owners of early childhood education centres on the island will each receive a $2,500 grant to “kick-start” classes for the new semester.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education and Sustainable Development, Dr. Pauline Antoine-Prospere informed that officials of the Ministry recently met with the owners of the institutions at a ceremony in Dennery and presented them with cheques.

She noted that some of those agencies had difficulty meeting their financial obligations following the outbreak of the coronavirus, including paying rent and staff salaries.

Dr Antoine-Prospere said that while some parliamentary representatives had already reached out to these people in their respective constituencies, Prime Minister Philippe J. Pierre thought it wise to provide “some relief” to the centers.

“We have made early childhood education a priority … Since the government provides services to state-owned centres, this is a ‘one-off’ payment of $2,500, which has been well received by early childhood centres,” she told reporters at a news conference on Monday.

Furthermore, commenting on the application of Technical, Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) programmes, Dr. Antoine-Prospere stressed that this requires a “holistic approach” to this aspect.

She explained that efforts are being made to promote TVET schools. “We know that some schools have (some) stigma because of their (academic) performance, but we are doing our best to ensure that parents accept and understand the concept,” the ministry official said.

Dr. Antoine-Prospere observed that there are still some misunderstandings about the TVET model, noting that this learning technique is only suitable for students with lower levels of academic development.

However, she said research proved that some of the “best students perform just as well in TVET as in other academic subjects”.

“So, we must abandon this concept… We must abandon the misconception that TVET is only for children who are not academically inclined and let our children benefit from it,” Dr. Antoine-Prospere declared.

She noted that with new trends in science and technology, there is more scope to make a living in specific fields such as electrical engineering.

It is noteworthy that two years ago, the government announced that four secondary schools in Saint Lucia would be converted into technical colleges. Piaye, Anse Ger, Grand Riviere and John Odlum secondary schools currently focus on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

Minister of Education, Sustainability, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training Shawn Edward said this investment in skills development will benefit students and the country. He noted that students learn differently and the government intends to “meet their needs based on their level”.

Minister Edward added: “We must no longer continue with a cookie-cutter approach to educating our young people. We must recognise their talents and passions and create spaces and centres of vocational excellence where they have the opportunity to pursue and realise their dreams.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Antoine-Prospere said that while there were some initial issues to deal with, which were caused by “skepticism and people’s reluctance…, this is something we have to sell.”

She said that currently, class sizes at TVET centres are not very large, “but we hope that over time … we will attract more students to choose (to attend) technical and vocational schools.”

“We are trying to show them the equipment that is available in schools so that we will have more students… choosing technical and vocational education (training),” stressed Dr. Antoine Prospere.