EARLY childhood professionals, including teachers and auxiliary workers, will be required to be certified annually by a registered medical practitioner, as of next year.

This new stipulation is a requirement of the 2005 Early Childhood Act and its accompanying regulations that are to come on stream in the new year.

Executive director of the Early Childhood Commission (ECC) Merris Murray said that this requirement, like others, was in keeping with the transformation of the early childhood sector.

The transformation, she said, was aimed at giving children the facilities they require to flourish at that stage of their development.

“The Act requires that the applicant or the proposed employees of an early childhood institution be certified on an annual basis by a registered medical practitioner, and that certificate should state that such a person is fit and in good health,” the ECC head said.

In addition to this requirement, Murray said that the Act required the operator – in addition to all employees of the particular institution – to present to the ECC, on an annual basis, a food handler’s permit.

She noted further that the regulations governing health care required that all employees be trained in paediatric first aid – a universal precaution as it relates to the prevention of blood-borne diseases, and the recognition of symptoms of child abuse.

The Early Childhood Act, passed in 2005, places the operation of all early childhood institutions, among them infant and basic schools as well as day care facilities, within a legal framework.

Meanwhile, in addition to health requirements, operators of early childhood institutions will be required to:

. register their institutions with the ECC; and

. ensure that staff is adequately trained in specified areas.

They will also have to ensure that the physical environment is safe for the children in their care.

The ECC, which was established in 2004, has responsibility for educating all stakeholders about the regulations that will govern the early childhood sector, prior to the implementation of the Act next year.

The Commission is also responsible for ensuring that all operators of early childhood institutions adhere to the regulations when the Act is duly enforced.

– JIS