IN an effort to help teachers at the early childhood level improve their qualifications, the Government has allocated $10 million to that sector.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education Dr Kasan Troupe announced on Friday that the Government will be providing scholarships to people completing their National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NQV-J) levels four or three certification and those who want to complete their associate or bachelor’s degree.

“The ultimate goal is to have every teacher at that level having at least a first degree in early childhood education. That’s the traditional pathway and those programmes are already in place. So, for the traditional pathway, it is clear. For entries into the teacher’s college for the bachelor’s, it is five Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects, which includes maths and English. Those are the minimum qualifications for the early childhood sector,” Troupe said as she pointed out that people who are already in the sector will be given the opportunity to attain this qualification,” Troupe said at an Education Transformation Oversight Committee quarterly press conference at The University of the West Indies Regional Headquarters.

“Persons who already have their level two, three, or level four NQV-J, we are going to be structuring that, so for those with the level two and three, which is mainly our caregivers, we will include those in your preparation for your associate degree, so you can take the associate degree path.

“For those persons with NQV-J levels two and three, you are now going to be able to use that as a qualifying subject to get into the associate degree. You will need four CSEC to get into the associate degree but the NQV-J levels two and three will be equivalent to one CSEC.

“Then you will need three others, inclusive of English. English is compulsory for you to move into the associate degree that is specialising in early childhood education. For those who acquire or attain the associate degree, you will now be qualified to move into the bachelor’s programme, which is an additional two years,” Troupe added.

She pointed out that people who have been in the sector without any qualifications for more than 30 years will get a special provision at the teacher’s colleges to work through what they have gained over the years to become certified.

“Those who acquire the level four, it is equivalent to an associate degree. So you can use your level four NQV-J qualification and move into your bachelor’s programme. And those with the associate degree, you are designated a specialist teacher. Specialist as per the Education Regulations and you will be paid accordingly. We will continue to improve training,” said Troupe.

The permanent secretary noted that there are various degree holders working in the childhood system who have gone through the vocational pathway training, especially those who work at the caregivers level.

“So the aim is to have those persons [caregivers] certified. We built out the framework so these persons who are not yet at the level they can access resources to improve themselves. The Government has provided $10 million for the early childhood sector through a heads of agreement with the JTA [Jamaica Teachers’ Association] and that money has been already provided in this quarter to the Early Childhood Commission,” said Troupe.