Northerners Celebrate Early Education Week
One can never create a greater impression on a person than when they are in their early childhood years. This is because studies have shown that young children learn 1.8 million times faster than adults.
Teachers therefore play a pivotal role in the development of education as they form the link which connects children from home to school. Northern divisional education officer Selemo Drokamaisau during the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Week celebrations at Subrail Park, Labasa, said it was all about improving and moulding the holistic child, which will eventually form the basis of their life long journey
“They provide the foundation for the rest of life, from childhood to adolescent and as an adult,” he said.
“Growth of mental and physical abilities progress at an amazing rate and a very high proportion of learning takes place from birth to age six. “When children are young, they are learning sponges. Every new experience, every word they learn, every behaviour they adopt is an investment in a more fruitful future.
The ECE Week celebrations started with a march from Sangam Avenue, Labasa Town to Subrail Park. Fifty two kindergartens and more than 800 students took part.
Chief guest, University of the South Pacific Labasa Campus director, Samuela Bogitini, noted that our cultural orientation is a key factor in pushing early childhood education to the periphery.
“In a communal based society like ours, nurturing of children is often seen as a domestic affairwomen’s business and therefore should be the responsibility of women.
“This might be one of the reasons early childhood education is perceived to be of lesser significance to primary and secondary education.
“Policy makers failed to see the linkages and connections early childhood education and care had to primary schools and at tertiary level, policy makers do not have the capacity to visualise the linkages and connections,” Mr Bogitini said.