Early Childhood Development Centre commissioned

The Finance Ministry on Saturday handed over the Early Childhood Development Centre located at Leonora, West Coast Demerara (WCD), to the Social Protection Ministry.
The building, which was constructed through a partnership with the Finance Ministry and the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), is intended to provide the children in Leonora and other neighbouring communities with learning spaces.
As part of the project, a total of 64 youths were also trained in relation to the standards that are set out by childcare facilities before the building was handed over. Some of these persons will be employed at the facility to manage and take care of the children.
Representative of the Child Care and Protection Agency (CC&PA), Zalaika Williams, who was present at the commissioning ceremony, related that the building and other aspects of the project were successfully completed via collaborative efforts between the Agency and the organisations involved.
“The Early Childhood Development Services Unit has supported BNTF from the initial stage of this project through our personnel, who provide the necessary guidance and training of potential staff, in order to achieve standards outlined in the regulations which govern all childcare facilities,” she said.
Williams further addressed the trainees, who were participants of the training programme, urging them to utilise the skills that they would have acquired to assist in the management of the new Centre.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Winston Jordan, who commissioned the Centre, noted that it was a structure geared towards a sustainable approach towards the continuation of quality development at an early age.
“This project was conceived with two goals in mind; to create comprehensive learning spaces for children of the community from infancy to the age of five and secondly, to train and generate job opportunities for youth,” the Minister indicated.
“We’re trying to ensure that children from zero to five get the kind of attention, get the kind of care and they’re exposed to the kind of early education that will feed their minds and that they will grow up to be excellent sons and daughters of this soil,” he further stated.
The introduction of the new building and its facilities will provide quality resources for early childcare development, as well as employment for those who were engaged in the training exercises. Two other centres were recently commissioned – one in Ithaca, Berbice and another in Anns Grove, East Coast Demerara.