- This is the Early Childhood Education intervention success story of a country called Guyana. It is a country on South America’s North Atlantic coast. Guyana is one of the poorest countries in South America. The rural poor are often completely cut off from population centers and live in crowded, unsanitary conditions.
- An organisation known as GPE, together with the government of Guyana is making great progress in improving early childhood education and reducing disparities in learning outcomes between coastal and hinterland areas.
- During initial period of project on ECE they found that many teachers were unaware of how play can stimulate cognitive thinking and develop social and motor skills just as much as learning letters and numbers.
In a study in 2013, the ministry of Education (MoE) administered a diagnostic assessment to more than 700 children entering grade 1 in hinterland areas. The findings were alarming: approximately 60% of children had not mastered pre-requisite skills for reading, and less than 10% could demonstrate any understanding of text. Additionally, 40% showed very little or no ability to identify any numbers from 1 to 10.
- GPE has supported the government of Guyana in making a long-term investment in ensuring that future generations of children have equal learning opportunities.
- After the intervention, according to the ministry of Education (Guyana), more than 8,000 school children living in hinterland and riverine areas improved their literacy skills by 139% and their numeracy skills by 133% (compared to 90% and 75% respectively in coastal areas).
- According to Marcel Hutson, Chief Education Officer, ministry of Education Guyana. 'Education cannot be confined to the chief education officer alone, or to the classroom, it has to be a partnership approach. Because when we come together, there will be a collective impact, and that is what we’re constantly searching for in education…collective impact.”.
Click to view award winning program of Guyana: Read, Play, Love campaign
Click to read the article from source (GPE):
This is an initiative of credence Learning Foundation to bring news and views on education from various sources.
Subscribe for regular updates.