Early Childhood Month opened in Anguilla on Monday, March 1, under the theme Early Childhood Education for a Successful Nation.” It was declared open at the Rodney MacArthur Rey Auditorium by Minister of Social Development, the Hon. Edison Baird.

Officials at the Opening Ceremony

“Any Government that is serious about national development, must invest in early childhood education as it is a critical first step in the education process and in the building of our human resource capacity,” Mr. Baird stated. “If our people are to contribute to and benefit from Anguilla’s development, we have to get it right. We have a duty to care for our children. We have a duty to ensure that their needs are met – educationally, emotionally and socially. The delivery of early childhood education in a manner that meets these needs is the responsibility of all of us – Government, teachers and parents.”

Mr. Baird stated that the theme of the month acknowledged the basic truism that a good foundation was crucial to success. “At this foundation stage of nation-building, we have to invest in materials and resources necessary to give our children a sound start, recognising that the success of any nation rests on the overall development of its people,” the Minister went on.

Children in performance

He told the teachers that the Government was grateful to them for the tremendous job they were doing for the island’s preschool children. He urged parents to continue to support the teachers, children and the various activities in the schools. He added that a lot of effort went into the preparation of the month of activities and called on all to show their appreciation to the teachers and other organisers.

The feature address was delivered by Pastor Phillip Gumbs of the Church of God (Holiness) which operates a preschool in The Valley. He lamented that from the early stages of school, all the way to tertiary education, the males were falling behind the females not only in Anguilla, but across the world. He said that this was causing colossal problems for the emerging society, and blamed the difficulties on behavioural patterns in the classroom and on troublesome attitudes with many boys appearing to think that education was more a matter for girls.

Teachers and parents along with children

Pastor Gumbs contended that in the past there were certain social structures in place which aided boys in taking an interest in the learning process but those structures had collapsed today. He said that in those days parental homes were strong and there was respect and order in society that reinforced learning outside the classroom. “Back then it was noble for a boy to learn because his teachers were mostly men. Today, education is seen as a female thing…and so our boys are falling behind,” he summed up the situation.

Pastor Phillip urged the Church, parents, Education Department and the Government to see the slow-learning or disinterest in education by boys as a major problem, and called on teachers to examine how they relate to boys and girls in the classrooms. He concluded that it was easier to teach girls than boys, but nevertheless encouraged the educators to carry out their teaching roles to their best ability.

Children performing

Chief Education Officer, Mrs. Rhonda Connor, also spoke at the opening ceremony during which she emphasised the importance of early childhood education and complimented the teachers at the various preschools for their dedicated work.
The rest of the programme included the opening praayer by Pastor Norril Gumbs of First Baptist Church and preschool; selections by the pupils of Bethel Preschool, the kindergarten sections of the Primary Schools and the Preschool Teachers. The Vote of Thanks was given by Kindergarten Teacher, Mrs. Faustina Nanton.

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