This project supports improvement of early childhood education (ECE) for 230 at risk children in Haiti's Artibonite Valley. It will provide teachers' training, hiring of teachers' aides, and pedagogical materials that further the children's physical, cognitive, and social development. It will also support the rehabilitation of a courtyard for a safer environment for the children.
The inadequate academic quality of ECE at PHC partner school is due to poorly trained and underpaid teachers as well as a lack of pedagogical materials. ECE is grossly underfunded and the child to staff ratio is at a high of 1:37. About a third of the 735 children attending the school are in ECE. The challenge is to ensure that all these at risk children have access to a high quality ECE that promotes the development of their cognitive, emotional, language, physical, and social skills.
The project will provide appropriate training for early childhood education teachers and teachers' aides on the children's many different emotional and behavioral issues. It will also promote a wide variety of experiences to foster learning opportunities. A better quality early childhood education will prepare the children for formal education and reduce wastage and stagnation in primary school. Quality early childhood especially empowers children who are most vulnerable and disadvantage
The project will benefit 230 three to five year olds, most of whom live under extreme poverty, by building the foundation for lifelong learning, well being, and human capital development. A quality early childhood education program improves attention, effort, and initiative - all of which lead to better education. It is an excellent preventive measure to support the early breaking of the cycle of intergenerational poverty.
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).
