Editorial | Early childhood crisis?

The revelation by this newspaper that nearly four in 10 (38 per cent) of Jamaica’s four-year-olds lagged on developmental milestones for their age raises serious questions of what has happened in early childhood development/education in the four years since the Patterson Report, and if, in fact, the problem has grown worse.

If the latter is indeed true it is not only Trisha Williams-Singh, the chairman of the Early Childhood Commission (ECC), who must urgently offer an explanation for this turn of affairs, but also the former education minister, Fayval Williams, and her successor, Dana Morris Dixon.

For if it is that the availability of resources is part of the problem, preventing a frontal attack on the issues in the early childhood sector, the policymaker should say why they have not embraced, or don’t fancy the funding solution proposed by the Patterson Commission: channelling a portion of the more than J$12 billion in payroll taxes received annually by the HEART/NSTA Trust, the government skills training agency, to early childhood education.

The Patterson Commission was a high-powered group, led by celebrated Jamaican sociologist and Harvard University professor, Orlando Patterson, that was appointed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness to recommend ways to transform Jamaica’s failing education system. The commission, of which Dr Morris Dixon was a member (before she entered politics) delivered its report in 2021.

The commission, at the time, stressed that “the foundational early childhood development sector” was one of the areas to which significant attention was paid – precisely for that reason: it was foundational and had received too little focus in early reform reports.

In its report on Sunday on the 2024 Jamaica School Readiness Assessment (JSRA) – which tests the development of four-year-olds for their readiness for school environment – The Gleaner disclosed that 54.4 per cent of the 29,729 children who were tested met the critical development milestones for their age.

DIDN’T MEET STANDARDS

However, 11,2191 children, a staggering 39 per cent, were deemed to be in need of “further development analysis”. That, it appears, is shorthand for saying that, on the basis of the administered tests, these kids didn’t meet the expected developmental standards. They were referred for secondary screening, including 7.6 per cent who were recommended for classroom monitoring.

By any measure, having approximately four in 10 children of a country, and especially one that is not at war, failing to meet the age-group development criteria ought to be a matter of deep concern, approaching the level of crisis.

Indeed, most global surveys suggest that up to 15 per cent of children under age five may have difficulties in one or more areas of development. However, the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), which broadens the scope of the analysis to include community-related information, shows that up to 24 per cent of preschoolers can face developmental vulnerabilities.

Notable, in Jamaica, the latest school readiness assessment was that of the children flagged for further screening, 61 per cent (6,847) needed support in all developmental domains. That is 23 per cent of the entire cohort.

In contrast to the JSRA for last year, the Patterson Commission, which reviewed the 2019 test, found that of “11 developmental problems enquired of, two-thirds of children (67.3 per cent) had no developmental concerns”. If the tests remained consistent since the Patterson Report, the latest outcomes, four years later, would, on its face, suggest a 12.9 percentage point drop in readiness.

DEVELOPMENTAL CONCERN

In the Patterson Report, just shy of a fifth (19.2 per cent) of the children had at least one developmental concern. That, assuming the same things are being measured, compares with the near doubling (38 per cent) in the latest analysis.

The bulk of Jamaica’s early childhood institutions (ICIs) are the community-based basic schools. While they receive some government support, these schools/daycare operations are often under-resourced, lacking enough critical material for the stimulation of children, as well as too few trained teachers. The physical environment, too, is often inadequate.

At the time of the Patterson Report, half of the registered ICIs didn’t meet the Early Childhood Commission’s standards for full registration. No recent similar analysis is available on the commission’s website.

Once, before she left the education ministry, Fayval Williams, who is now the finance minister, floated the idea of a government takeover of the basic schools system, to begin to meaningfully address its resource issues. But neither Ms Williams nor any other minister followed up on the matter.

However, highlighting the at the time low graduation rates from HEART programmes as well as the range of vocational training institutions in the island, the Patterson Commission suggested “Jamaica could benefit by taking legal measures to redeploy funds earmarked for HEART to the more formative levels of the education system”. Which is to say early childhood.

The government never publicly rejected the recommendation, except that it expanded HEART’s offerings and made its programmes totally free. Some students also receive stipends.

Perhaps it’s time for a full discussion on the Patterson Commission suggestion.