arly childhood fees are through the roof

INVESTING in early childhood education can be a costly venture – it means in some cases preparing from birth to finance your child’s basic school years.

According to the Early Childhood Commission, “The care that children receive in the first six to eight years of life will determine the adults that they will become. These are the years when the foundation for growth and development; health and nutrition; physical, social, language, creative and cognitive abilities is laid.”

Early childhood institutions include nurseries, centres or homes which offer day care, basic schools, kindergartens, preschools, and infant schools. Although these institutions are just the beginning of a child’s academic future, parents can expect to pay big.

Based on checks done by all woman, parents can expect to pay anywhere from between $1,500 to $52,000 per term to pay for preschool, and this is just the school fees. In addition to this some schools require parents to pay for meals which could amount to $400 or more per week, and many charge by the hour for the time they have to keep the child after school ends. As if that is not enough, parents can also expect to fork out extra bucks for some extra-curricular activities such as swimming and the purchase of books. This is not counting the cost for school uniforms, bags, field trips, snacks and transportation of the child to and from school.

Even so, parents like Suzette do not mind paying the $48,500 per term for her four-year-old daughter who attends a kindergarten in St Andrew.

“I just decided to spend the money, to make the sacrifice because she is my only child and I want the best for her. I feel a sense of security with the classrooms and the amount of people per classroom is small. When she is at school, I don’t have to worry about her. Not that it can’t happen, but the risk of her coming home with one eye or something is minimal.”

These are also the sentiments shared by a number of mothers who choose kindergarten over basic schools. The environment is considered to be much safer and the teacher to student ratio is minimal, therefore parents believe that their children will get adequate attention from teachers.

Suzette says that there are 24 students at her daughter’s school who are taught by two teachers. She boasts that her daughter knows how to write and is learning how to form words. “I can’t say my money is being wasted,” she adds.

“With the basic schools, there are 50 students to one teacher, and although I went to basic school, I didn’t want her to go there,” she says.

When contacted, most basic schools in the Corporate Area said that they were full and could not take in anymore children. In one case one of the schools which charges $1,500 per term said they could not take in anymore students for September as they had run out of space.

An administrator from one basic school which charges $4,500 per term said that the teacher to student ratio was 35 students to one teacher. The students were taught colouring and tracing and could choose to do either swimming or dancing as extra-curricular activities.

While most kindergartens are expensive, this is not the case for all. Syreta Castro says she pays $8,000 per term for her four-year-old son who attends a kindergarten run by a church. She says this is fairly reasonable considering the fact that she was used to paying twice that amount for her son’s education at another preschool.

The only downfall Castro finds is that she has to pick her son up as soon as school ends at 1:30 in the afternoon.

The disparity between the cost for early childhood education lies in a number of factors. These include the extra-curricular activities offered, the school’s location and environment, the teacher to student ratio and the curriculum used to educate the child. So you will find that some schools offer children a wide range of activities such as swimming, ballet, football and karate and provide Spanish, Computer and Art & Craft classes, others might only offer Physical Education and language development with no after school activities. What your child gets is dependent on how much you as a parent is willing to invest.

Here are some of the requirements ECI’s must meet based on The Early Childhood Act (2005) and The Early Childhood Regulations (2005).

1. Employees of ECIs must be in good mental and physical health.

2. The operator and persons who are supervising or teaching children must be trained in early childhood development (ECD) by an institution that the ECC recognises. In addition, ECIs which cater to children over three years old must employ at least one qualified teacher.

3. There must always be adequate staff members to ensure that children are supervised and can receive the attention they need. Young children require greater attention to meet their developmental needs.

4. Each ECI must prepare and display a daily programme of activities. Copies are to be available to parents whose children attend the ECI, parents who are thinking about sending their children to the ECI and the ECC, if requested.

5. Indoor and outdoor activities that will promote the proper co-ordination of the movement of their small and large muscles.

6. Activities that will encourage children to express themselves in different ways, for example, through art, drama, music and language. Activities such as speaking, reading, storytelling and singing to help children develop their language skills, and activities that promote the development of self-esteem and self-reliance. These may include taking care of their personal hygiene.

7. No form of physical punishment is allowed in ECIs, including slapping, pinching, shaking, pushing and putting in unusual positions.

8. No form of emotional abuse or neglect is to be used to discipline children. Only appropriate forms of discipline eg time out, are allowed in ECIs.

9. ECIs must be operated in safe, well-designed, comfortable and secure buildings, with sufficient space inside and out for the children and staff to work, play and rest comfortably.

10. There must be adequate space for play outside, with some areas of shade.

11. Early childhood institutions have indoor and outdoor equipment and furnishings that are safe, child-friendly and promote optimal development of children.

12. There should be separate toilets for children and staff; there should be one toilet to every 20 children and one face basin for every 40 children.

13. Every time a child is given medication at an ECI it must be recorded. Information recorded must include the name of the medication, dose and the time it was given.

– For more information visit www.ecc.gov.jm