MONTEGO BAY, St James — Global early childhood education advisor at UNESCO Rokhaya Fall Diawara, has warned that growing reliance on digital devices in early childhood setting is undermining crucial human interaction.

Delivering an address at this week’s Early Childhood Commission’s Annual Professional Development Institute (PDI) at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, Diawara stressed that essential developmental skills such as empathy, language, and executive function are built through real world engagement, not screen time.

“Now, we have a new layer which is digitalisation. More and more children are behind hundreds of screens at home, along with ECCE [early childhood care and education] settings — not everywhere but in some [cases]. Tablets are becoming digital babysitters, replacing the rich human interaction children need. However, children do not build empathy, language, or executive function from screens, they make it from people — and this is why we still need to have people interaction,” the early childhood expert argued.

Diawara noted the ongoing conversation, in various segments of society, about the advantages and disadvantages of digital tools in early childhood education.

“I know even at UNESCO, all the time when we are talking about the digitalisation. It’s coming also in two ways: one is the pro and the other one is the cons,” she said.

She was, however, quick to add that the goal should be regulation, not elimination, of digital tools.

“We cannot stop AI, we cannot stop digital tools, but we must regulate what will happen when children are faced with these types of tools. [We must look at] how it can be beneficial for the parents, how it can be beneficial for the professionals, how it can be even beneficial for a category or a group of children — but you will agree that before three [years old] it’s really risky to leave the children with that,” said Diawara.

She argued that there needs to be a change in the thinking that has resulted in ECCE remaining the most neglected area of our education systems and development agendas.

“The answer is not about budgets or logistics only — it’s about mindset. Too many still see ECCE as babysitting, a private household concern, or a warm-up for real education rather than as education, as development trajectory. We must flip that narrative,” she urged, “because ECCE is not the preface — it is the first chapter of the lifelong learning journey. It sets the foundational learning pathways.

“When it is high-quality, inclusive, and equitable it becomes more than a developmental service — it becomes a societal transformation strategy,” added Diawara.

She argued that many ECCE administrators and decision-makers often lack the specialised expertise needed for effective policy leadership, system planning, quality assurance, and financing.

“This is something that is important also. We are always talking about the professionals forgetting about the leadership. The leadership must understand what is happening; the leadership is the one taking certain decisions. We must ensure they have the expertise; that they know what they are talking about. They must know also what they are taking decisions for, and in that sense they can be more enlightened and take proper decisions,” she explained.

Diawara pointed out how all these issues impact financing.

“We all know that ECCE remains one of the least-funded segments of education budgets. Many countries allocate less than two per cent of total education spending to pre-primary. Programmes for children zero to three [years old] receive even less and are often excluded from public financing altogether,” she added.

The conference, took place from May 19 to 23, under the theme: ‘High-Quality Early Childhood Care and Education — A Child’s Right, Not a Service’.

A UNESCO official has warned that before three years old it’s really risky to leave children with digital devices.