Over 150 educators benefit in early childhood development workshop
Over 150 teachers and District Education Officers (DEOs) from across the nation have benefited from a two-day symposium in early childhood development.
The collaborative effort between the Education Ministry and the Guyana-Jamaica Friendship Association (GJFA) was held at the Umana Yana in Georgetown.
Learning aids on display at the event
The five facilitators were educators from New York City with Caribbean heritage; Dr Evelyn Castro, Dr Norma Ellis-Wright, Dr Parthener Pinder, Dr Gloria Thompson and Dr Claudia Williams.
In an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI) President, GJFA, Dr Frank Denbow explained that there will be a working document, which will be used as a template to ensure that lessons learnt at the workshop are disseminated among other educators in Guyana. Dr Denbow said, “I hope it is the first of many (workshops)”.
Event Coordinator, Dr Gloria Thompson noted “Education is for all”, while explaining the decision to begin training from the bottom, “You have to have a base and once your base is good – you train your teachers, you train your parents,” in the long-run the outcome is much better.
The two-day event included a symposium and workshop where educators were
Teachers, District Education Officers attending the workshop at the Umana Yana
enlightened on science, technology, engineering, and Maths (STEAM) for early childhood classrooms; promoting young children’s language development, benefits of movement and games for early learners; separation and anxiety in young children and supporting active play in the early years.
In 2015 Guyana’s Early Childhood Development Project was launched with a grant from the World Bank, totalling US$1.7 million; it was aimed at improving emergent literacy and numeracy outcomes for children at the nursery level and primary Grade One in hinterland regions and targeted remote riverine areas.
This symposium and workshop is the first with the non-profit organisation, Guyana-Jamaica Friendship Association (New York) INC which focuses on bettering health and education in the Caribbean.
The Association has also been working with the Mashabo Primary School over the past year. They have donated microscopes and books.
