MAY PEN, Clarendon — Sixty three Early Childhood education teachers from Clarendon and Manchester are better prepared thanks to the Advancing Childhood Education Programme (ACEP) sponsored by the Alcoa Foundation, according to a news release circulated here.

The teachers who completed the one-year programme in January were presented with their certificates at a graduation ceremony held at the Wembley Centre of Excellence in Clarendon on February 27.

Chairperson of the Early Childhood Commission Professor Maureen Samms-Vaughan told the graduates that Jamalco’s decision to invest in Early Childhood Education will not only help to improve literacy and numeracy but will also help to reduce the high levels of crime and violence in their communities, the release said.

“The investment is one that is grounded in the outcome of these communities and the improvement of our children’s performance,” Samms-Vaughan said.

She charged the graduates to make the greatest impact by forging partnerships with the various stakeholders in their respective communities. “You have to partner to continue education and change the future of this nation,” she said.

Jamalco’s Acting Managing Director (Corporate & Gov’t Affairs) Leo Lambert said that the company’s decision to invest in early childhood education is part of a deliberate strategy to achieve a minimum of 80% literacy at Grade One level.

“I am convinced that many of those who now embrace a life of social deviance had the potential to be great. There is no nice way to say they have been failed by an education system that is not equipped to properly prepare them for learning …,” he said.

Lambert said the problem is perpetuated by a streaming system which reinforces a view that some children are bright while convincing others that they are intellectually inferior.

In congratulating the teachers, Lambert said, “By participating in this programme, you have signaled your commitment to shaping a better space.”

Funded by the Alcoa Foundation and Jamalco, the ACEP programme was designed to increase to 80 per cent the number of students reaching proficiency in reading and writing in the Grade 1 learning Profile test in Clarendon and Manchester. It has being implemented by Jamalco in collaboration with The Mico University College, the Early Childhood Commission and United Way of Jamaica.