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Gov't vows it won't abandon early childhood education [JM]

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Author: 
Gilchrist, Carl
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Article
Publication Date: 
18 Apr 2004
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EXCERPTS

State minister in the education, youth and culture ministry, Donald Rhodd, last week assured teachers that despite the near $3 billion budget shortfall, the ministry would not abandon any of its early childhood education initiatives, nor "short-change any level of the system".

But he admitted that the Government's $1.36 billion allocation to education this year would present "daunting challenges" to the Ministry of Education which "has been called upon by society to deliver a world class, globally competitive" education system.

"I am confessing to you that it is a daunting challenge that will require greater efficiency and effectiveness in the management and re-allocation of resources for early childhood development," he told 300 educators attending the three-day Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) Early Childhood Conference at the Renaissance Jamaica Grande Hotel in Ocho Rios.

He said, however, that monetary resources were not all that the system needed to make the transformational change that was critical to the country's growth and survival.

The strategy that was being employed by the ministry in 2004/2005, the junior minister explained, was to identify three or four strategic interventions to improve quality, efficiency and the delivery of education at the school site and classroom level.

- reprinted from Jamaica Observer

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