ST CATHERINE, Jamaica – As part of activities in her constituency for Read Across Jamaica Day, Member of Parliament for Central StCatherine and Opposition spokesperson on Information, Sports, Gender Affairs, Entertainment and Culture, Olivia “Babsy” Grange, spent yesterday with students of the Eltham Infant School.

Grange highlighted the importance of reading from an early age, noting that children should be encouraged to practice reading on an ongoing basis, so as to combat grammatical and other challenges up to the tertiary level.

“It is essential that we instil in our children, the importance of reading from the fundamental stages of their development. In interacting with the group today (Tuesday), which consisted mostly of five year olds heading to primary school in September, I must say that I was truly impressed with their phonetic skills and overall enthusiasm,” Grange said.

The teachers thanked her for helping to have the school upgraded to an infant school last September.

Grange was accompanied by her parents, MGifford and Raphaelita Walker, founding members of PACE Canada, a Jamaican diaspora organisation based in Toronto, which focuses on early childhood education that has adopted more 400 basic schools in Jamaica.