‘Fix the root’

More than one-third of Jamaican four-year-olds assessed for school readiness in 2024 were flagged for further developmental evaluation, as concerns grow over long delays in accessing critical support services.

Of the 29,729 children assessed through the Jamaica School Readiness Assessment (JSRA), 38 per cent – or approximately 11,291 – were referred for secondary screening, which requires evaluation by developmental specialists. Another 7.6 per cent (2,254 children) were recommended for classroom monitoring, according to data obtained from the Early Childhood Commission (ECC) by The Sunday Gleaner.

This means that only about 54.4 per cent of the children fully met the key developmental milestones expected at their age.

ECC Chairman Trisha Williams Singh explained that the JSRA has been used since 2022 to identify children who may need additional support before entering primary school. The assessment was conducted across approximately 2,300 early childhood institutions and categorises children into three groups: those ready for school, those to be monitored in the classroom, and those needing secondary screening.

Williams Singh said the secondary screening requires a specialist to diagnose the developmental challenge but noted that there is a significant delay to move beyond this step.

She said at the early childhood level the curriculum is often play-based, but changes when the pre-schoolers transition.

“You do activities in early years. When you make that transition now and you start to go to primary school, you realise how they teach also changes and the curriculum then is not play-based,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Urgent need

Williams Singh emphasised the urgent need for more developmental specialists in Jamaica.”

“One of the challenges is that we don’t have a lot of those specialists in Jamaica. So, parents who recognise also that there seems to be an issue with their child they have a long waiting time to see the few that we have in Jamaica,” said Williams Singh.

A formal diagnosis of special needs must come from a clinical psychologist. Of the 11,291 children referred for further screening, 6,847 were identified as needing support across all developmental domains, the ECC confirmed.

To address the shortage of specialists, the ECC has begun working with the University of the West Indies to explore the development of new programmes and training courses. Williams Singh also highlighted the urgent need for more social workers at the community level to support parents.

“Look at Pembroke Hall High. Let us look at where the children are coming from. Listening to what the principal said that parenting seemed to be absent. Let’s move away from blaming, sometimes these parents themselves are overwhelmed and need help. So if you look at the communities these children are coming from maybe we need more social workers to help parents and to show the better practices,” Williams Singh said.

Unable to read ... at a

grade-three level

A week ago, Pembroke Hall High principal Reverend Claude Ellis told The Gleaner that more than 70 per cent of the roughly 220 grade-seven students at the St Andrew school entered unable to read or did so only at a grade-three level.

Alarmingly, he said some of these students struggled to recognise letters of the alphabet.

Some students are suspected of having special education needs, but remain unassessed due to long wait times at the Government’s primary diagnostic centre – the Mico Care Centre – and a lack of parental cooperation, as they remain in denial.

The disclosure triggered national discourse which, Williams Singh said, should also focus on what is happening at the early childhood level. She said a major challenge to addressing the issues identified is funding.

“When you identify these children, the solution, as you know it to be, does require funding,” she said.

‘She said too often, funding assistance is steered towards the primary and secondary level, ignoring children in their early years.

She wants it to be diverted to the early childhood sector where she believes the greatest impact can be made.

“So, what we’re saying is when we ask sometimes for more funding and we reach out to corporate and everyone, let us look at also doing summer camps, for example, for little ones. It’s shifting the conversation more to recognise that if you’re not ready for learning at early stage then it’s only natural to think you’re going to end up going to primary not ready to learn; not wanting to learn and the same happens when you get to secondary.

“Let’s look at the root. The root has to be seen – that it’s from early years that we need to identify the challenges and it’s at early years that we have to fix the problem,” said Williams Singh.

Opposition spokesman on education, Senator Damion Crawford, echoed these concerns last week, proposing the creation of “infant brain builder centres” for children aged one to three. Citing research that shows 90 per cent of brain development occurs by age five, Crawford said it’s already too late at age six, when the Government typically begins to invest.

Brain builder centres

Though former Education Minister Ruel Reid had identified brain builder centres as a national priority, only three were established before his departure from office. Crawford believes more can be done.

“We believe that it is possible for us to build 1,000 centres. Many will ask how will we afford it but we have already contacted many of the churches who are not engaged in activities in midweek and they have indicated that they are very willing to participate by allowing their church halls to be used as brain builder centres,” the senator said at a People’s National Party press conference.

He said HEART/NSTA Trust can then act as a support system, training facilitators for these centres.

He said daily digital curriculum guide and instructional videos will be used to support best practices and also ensuring that there is a general experience across the island.

Crawford also mentioned the implementation of a free homeschool curriculum app for parents to help children from birth until age three.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com