Ministry to propose nursery education from three and a half years
The Ministry of Education is looking at making early childhood education compulsory from three and a half years, as against the current required age of five and a half years.

Minister Shaik Baksh made this announcement yesterday when he commissioned the spanking new $ 14 M Albouystown Nursery School, and in the process moved a step closer to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goal for nursery education.

Addressing parents and their little ones, Minister Baksh pointed out that the institution clearly reflects the administration’s keen interest in developing the child at an early age. The Minister last week commissioned a similar facility at Lusignan, on the East Coast of Demerara.

Mr. Baksh commended the school’s Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and members of the community for the role they played in the construction of the school, and solicited their continued support of the institution.

He pledged government’s commitment to providing students with trained teachers, materials and an environment conducive to learning.

He stressed too that parents also have a critical role to play to ensure their children’s success.

The Ministry will soon launch a nationwide campaign to make parents more aware of the importance of having a keen interest in their children’s education.

Also greater emphasis will be placed on supervision at the primary level, to ensure that students entering secondary schools are functionally literate and numerate.

The Minister spoke of being upset at students seen on streets in the city well after 9 hrs on school days, and he called on head teachers to look into this urgently.

The ministry has recruited the services of an additional 30 schools’ welfare officers to reinforce students’ self-esteem to ensure discipline in the school system.

Former head teacher of the newly commissioned school, Ms. Linda Dainty, expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Education for the new facility, and remarked that the school is a dream come true after 17 years of praying for a permanent building.

She said the students were previously housed at the YMCA building on Sussex and Albouys Street, where they suffered from several incidents of vandalism.

Current head teacher of the school, Ms Belinda Cameron, in brief remarks, said the new building provides the proper environment for realizing the children’s potential and for further development of their curriculum.

The school currently has a population of 74 pupils and four teachers.

They were occupying the new school house since March 10.