Charging that the Government is clueless in its response to the country’s low literacy level, Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) spokesman on education and community development Senator Damion Crawford said his party intends to correct the problem with the use a bottom-up approach to include the construction of 1,000 brain builders centres for toddlers.

According to Crawford, the concept, which was introduced by former Education, Youth and Information Minister Senator Ruel Reid in 2018, barely made it out of the blocks because of budgetary constraints and Reid’s fall from grace in 2019, following allegations of corruption and misuse of public funds.

He told journalists at a news conference at the Opposition’s Old Hope Road, St Andrew, headquarters on Thursday morning that the party has already secured commitment from some church organisations to enable the centres to operate.

“The brain builders centre was supposed to target the first three years of the child’s development. To my information, we only built three. We believe that it is possible for us to build 1,000 centres for brain builders aged 1½ to 3. Many would ask how would we afford it but we have already contacted many of the churches who are not engaged in activities in the midweek and some of these churches have indicated that they would be willing to allow their church halls to be donated as brain builders centres that can immediately allow for that intervention and interface,” Crawford said.

He also said the national training agency, HEART/NSTA Trust, will be roped into the plan.

“We want a support system where HEART Trust will start to train brain builders or infant facilitators with daily digital curriculum guides and videos showcasing best practices and also ensuring that there is a general experience across the island,” Crawford indicated.

He said the PNP will also implement a free app that “indicates to parents a home school curriculum from birth to age three, indicating simulation and learning prompts, and supporting families, especially in the underserved communities”.

“We also see that there is a problem of weak literacy foundation in our primary schools. We believe that one of the interventions necessary is a review of our education structure. Our current education structure is a 3-6, 3-2 structure. Three — basic school; six — primary school; three — lower secondary school; and two — upper secondary school,” Crawford said.

“We believe that we need a 3-4-2-3; this would mean the six at the primary level would be divided into lower primary and upper primary with lower primary focusing and concentrating on literacy, numeracy, spoken English and creativity. Grade 5 — upper primary — would be for general knowledge and rounded exposure. The entire Grade six year currently is more focused, it seems, on rounded exposure,” he contended.

According to Crawford, the revised structure “would mean that teachers at the lower primary level would have specialised in lower primary education and teachers at the upper primary would have specialised in upper primary education”.

The Brain Builders Programme, which had been launched under the current Jamaica Labour Party Administration in 2018, aimed to reduce cognitive learning challenges among infants in the country with a framework for action in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, which starts from conception to age two.

Under the initiative, the Early Childhood Commission was tasked with establishing 126 brain builders centres across the island, with two in each constituency.

The main objective of the programme was to ensure that all Jamaican children get the best start in life by attending to their health, nutrition, stimulation, social protection, child protection, and early intervention needs.