Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3 (Alternative)

This week’s blog assignment I was not able to get a response back in time from my international early childhood professional. This week I selected the alternative assignment and went to UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage. I started on the page access and equity. I then clicked on the related information and clicked on the link to “Bite off only as much as you can chew”: Gambia’s Policy for Early Childhood.  In this article I learned about Gambia’s Early Child Development Centre for children ages three to six years old.  Children of this age group that lived in areas that were considered disadvantaged could attend the program. This program was planned to increase workforce and the school infrastructure in early childhood (“Bite off only as much as you can chew: Gambia's policy for early childhood,” 2006). 

An interview was conducted between the Director of Basic and Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Momodou Sanneh and Soo-Hyang Choi, UNESCO, Paris. In the interview, Mr. Choi questioned Mr. Sanneh about his thoughts on creating the ECD Centres. Mr. Sanneh discussed how he wanted to provide disadvantaged children with experiences in early childhood. He also discussed how the program was a pro-poor policy to help the poorest community. To ensure children in the program were receiving a quality program Mr. Sanneh discussed how the teachers would be trained. He also discussed that the program was for children ages three to six years old. This was based on the fact that primary and secondary school did not start until children were seven to fifteen years old. Mrs. Sanneh discussed how lowering the age level for children to enter primary school to six years old was considered. However, based on projections of the cost it was too costly for the government to implement without receiving support from the outside (“Bite off only as much as you can chew: Gambia's policy for early childhood,” 2006).  

Mr. Choi questioned Mr. Sanneh about the ECD Centers providing savings. Mr. Sanneh discussed that the program would cost less due to the infrastructure of the building. The building would be a shed that is considered a playground set up by the community. Another cost saver according to Mr. Sanneh was that the ECD centre did not have a curriculum. The trained teachers would be “responsible more for childminding than for their learning process” (“Bite off only as much as you can chew: Gambia's policy for early childhood,” 2006, p. 2). Lastly, the trained teachers would come from the primary school under a polyvalent teacher training framework that includes teaching early childhood, according to the government (“Bite off only as much as you can chew: Gambia's policy for early childhood,” 2006).  

Upon completion of reading the article about early childhood program in Gambia I gained some insights. One of the insights was that every country does not start primary education at five years old. In Gambia children do not start school until they are seven years old. I feel that it is important to expose children to education early in order to support children’s educational journey. I was happy to see that the ECD Centre will provide early childhood for children from three to five years old based on the National Education Policy of 2014-2015. Another insight I learned was that Gambia did not view early childhood education as a time where teachers should focus on educating children using a curriculum but “minding” children. I hope in time that this view will change. It has been a fight for early childhood professionals to be viewed as teachers rather than “babysitters” and it was sad to see that in Gambia the teachers are essentially babysitting (“Bite off only as much as you can chew: Gambia's policy for early childhood,” 2006).  

Lastly, I was surprised at the percentage of children that attended school in Gambia.  According to “Bite off only as much as you can chew: Gambia's policy for early childhood” (2006), the net enrollment in the primary school was 73 percent. In Gambia, providing early childhood centres was a part of universaling education with the hope of boosting enrollment in primary education. In conclusion, my hope is that more information will continue to be provided about the benefits of early childhood programs in order for it to be a part of all public school and child care programs (“Bite off only as much as you can chew: Gambia's policy for early childhood,” 2006).  

Reference

"Bite off only as much as you can chew": Gambia's policy for early childhood. (2006). United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation, (34), 1-2. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001470/147041e.pdf

UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education”. (2009-2014). Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/