hese youngsters from St. Paul's Basic School found this balloon fascinating while at the K.I.D.S. Christmas 2007 treat at The Hilton Kingston hotel on Tuesday, December 18, 2007. - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer

SPANISH TOWN, St. Catherine:

Early childhood practitioners have expressed concern about recent changes to be enforced upon basic schools by government.

According to convenor of the Early Childhood Practitioners Association, Ricardo Hall, the Government will have to give basic schools more than the 90-day ultimatum for the changes to take effect.

Hall was speaking at the Morgan's Basic School, in Spanish Town, where he told more than 90 basic school teachers that before the Government could give the ultimatum, it needed to address outstanding problems like infrastructure, which has broken down since the passage of Hurricane Dean.

According to Mr. Hall, in the St. Catherine region three of 44 schools affected by Hurricane Dean have received help from the Government or its agencies.

Hall then went on to knock the pay structure of early childhood educators, saying it remained dismal.

"Persons with diplomas in early childhood education are getting a maximum subsidy of $19,000 per month, some even lower than that and we need to change this condition now for them to operate," said Mr. Hall.

Instead of a subsidy, Mr. Hall said teachers from the early childhood stage should be getting salaries with basic emoluments such as health and retirement benefits.

According to Hall, the Government also needs to pay attention to the plight of the early childhood level, as while they try to give back to secondary education and primary schools, those in early childhood are often overlooked.

Among the changes the Government is trying to get on-stream are:

No more than 12 students to a teacher.

Each student should have 20 square feet of playing space.

A fire extinguisher must be in every class.

Before any of these takes place, each basic school is expected to register with the Early Childhood Development Commission by February.

- Rasbert Turner

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