THE Ministry of Education is targeting the merger and/or construction of 200 early childhood institutions in the coming school year.

The move comes as the Government continues to strengthen the early childhood programme.

Addressing the Early Childhood Commission’s 10th anniversary function last Monday at Tryall Club in Hanover, western regional director at the Ministry of Education, Hillary Foster, disclosed that the ministry has embarked on a programme to rationalise basic schools by merging them into infant departments of primary schools.

In 2013/14, a total of 68 basic schools were merged into infant departments along with the building of two stand-alone schools.

Foster said the merger of these schools will provide critical institutional support, which is already available at the primary level.

Turning to other initiatives at the early childhood level, Foster said that the breakfast-feeding programme will be expanded this September to reach more children.

She said that free, subsidised breakfast will be provided to about 200,000 students age four to eight, including those who are registered on the Programme for Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).

The aim, she explained, is to ensure that the nutritional support given to early childhood students is improved.

Foster added that data from a recent survey conducted by the School Feeding Unit showed that there are about 40 per cent of children who are in need of constant supplement, while another 30 per cent sometimes go hungry.

In addition to improving the nutritional support, the education ministry will be placing more trained teachers in basic schools this academic year.

Foster said that 480 basic schools will each be assigned one trained teacher who will have responsibility “to coach pre-trained teachers in the schools with no trained teacher”.

This, she said, will move the figure to 1,100 schools with access to trained teachers in the early childhood institutions islandwide.

She also reminded the early childhood practitioners that, as promised, the Ministry of Education will, at the start of the new school year, be increasing monthly subsidies to institutions by 15 per cent with a similar increase set for the 2015/16 academic year.

Foster said the Ministry of Education is moving to attract and retain the nation’s best early childhood teachers and practitioners in the local education system.

— JIS